[Feldman] Washington State DC Alex Grinch to Ohio State
Alex Grinch (37) has been rumored since mid-December by FootballScoop to be going to Ohio State, but it looks like the deal has now been finalized according to ESPN, and Bruce Feldman:
SOURCES: #WAZZU’s Alex Grinch is heading to #OhioState as the Buckeyes new Co-defensive coordinator. He did a phenomenal job in Pullman and the #MountUnion product is now heading home to work for OSU.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 4, 2018
On paper, Grinch's Wazzu defense finished with an S&P+ ranking of 23rd in the nation, and 16th in total defense (improvement from 99th in 2014). Seems to be the first DC to successful pair a defense with Mike Leach's Air Raid spread offense. Although, the defense did get mollywhopped by MSU in the Holiday Bowl.
Interested to see how Grinch's "Speed D" concept works in the B1G, or if he'll even be able to fully implement it as a co-DC under Greg Schiano.
Looks like it is officially open season for programs to start poaching 10th assistant coaches.
January 5th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
Except that Urban has had co-DCs for 5/6 seasons he has been at Ohio State. Urban was planning to have one this season to replace Luke Fickell, but the NCAA unexpectedly decided to delay the approval of the 10th asst. coach position a year.
Urban likes have co-coordinators, so if one leaves than the other can maintain continuity. So Urban is probably expecting Greg Schiano to get another HC offer next season, and wants to make sure there's an established successor.
Sure, the defense inexplctly collapsed against Iowa, but Schiano's unit still finished 9th in the country in total defense, and they dominated USC's offense: 14 TFLs, 8 sacks, and 4 turnovers.