USC fires defensive coordinator Alex Grinch – The Press-Enterprise

USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch meets with reporters during the team’s preseason media day on Thursday at the John McKay Center. “We really struggled in the fourth quarter last year,” Grinch said. “Part of that is maturity. Part of that is understanding what it takes to win, learning how to win. And part of that is the mental resilience part.” (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

LOS ANGELES – The coaching relationship between Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch ends here, with an email to media Sunday announcing Grinch’s dismissal at USC, a long and winding road arriving to an inevitable destination in ugly fashion.

Grinch came with head coach Riley to USC from Oklahoma, bringing a reputation as an analytical mind and player’s coach – a guy who inspired trust, former associates said, by shooting straight and beating around no bushes – with a track record to boot. He’d orchestrated a defensive turnaround under Mike Leach at Washington State, and brought a similar uptick in production to Oklahoma with a speed-based scheme; when Riley brought Grinch back for a second year at USC despite obvious defensive issues in 2022, he pointed to a history of trust.

“The long history with him  – I’ve seen him in a lot of challenges, I’ve seen him come into a lot of tough situations,” Riley told the Southern California News Group in late August, before the start of the season. “He’s a grinder. He’s a fighter … it’s what he’s always done, and he’s gonna do it again.”

Perhaps the ship may have eventually turned. There’s no way to know, now, after Grinch was fired after an ugly 52-42 loss to Washington, the latest steamrolling in one of the worst defensive seasons in program history.

After surrendering 316 yards on the ground to Washington, more than triple the Huskies’ average output on the year, USC ranks 118th in the FBS in run defense and 119th in total defense. Patience wore thin, quickly, among USC’s fans and the public, with #FireGrinch seeming to trend most Saturdays in the past month: 41 points surrendered to Colorado and Arizona, 34 to an offensively-challenged Utah team, 49 to Cal. A source with knowledge of the situation told the SCNG that USC donors had grown progressively unhappy – “that’s been pretty evident” – with the season and, specifically, defense.

When asked after that Colorado game if he still had trust in Grinch, Riley responded, “Yes I do.” But after Cal, when asked if he had thoughts on future changes in defensive philosophy or coaches if poor play continued – a chance to express faith in his staff – the head coach deflected.

“I’m trying to beat Washington next week,” Riley said, then. “Those are my thoughts on it, that’s my job … sitting 5-1 in the best conference in America, to try to go win it. And that’s where my focus is.”

And for weeks, Grinch seemed like a man wholly and tragically aware of his own fate.

After Washington running back Dillon Johnson motored for his fourth score of the night on Saturday, in a 256-yard performance that left Johnson as seemingly baffled postgame by USC’s defense as the rest of the world – “My career high is 100 yards, so that tells you a little bit right there” – the game broadcast showed Grinch bent over on the sidelines, hands on knees, staring at the turf. The week earlier, after Cal back Jaydn Ott ran for his second long score of the first half, Grinch physically got on his knees in a sideline huddle with players and smacked the turf in an effort to inspire “shock and awe,” as he put it.

And in what’ll now stand as his final public words, in Tuesday’s practice, he was accountable to the point of self-demolition.

“We have to coach them through it,” Grinch said, on one answer. “It’s my responsibility to get that done, and I’m not getting it done.”

Through it all, players stood behind him, just as his players did at Washington State and dating back to his first coaching job at New Hampshire. He “expected so much of you,” said former New Hampshire defensive back Muji Karim, and it meant if players didn’t produce, they were disappointed in themselves. But in recent weeks, defensive leaders expressed veiled frustration with the lack of consistent execution.

“Kind of looked like guys weren’t ready to make the play,” senior linebacker Mason Cobb said postgame Saturday.

And in that postgame room against Washington, it was never more evident some sort of program change was necessary.

Cobb sat for some time at the back of the room, expressionless face shadowed inside a red hoodie, the USC defense’s emotional heartbeat run ragged of all emotion. Fellow linebacker Shane Lee sat a couple seats to his left postgame, eyes vacant hand resting forlornly against his cheek. Stalwart safety Calen Bullock slouched in his chair, furrowing his brows.

Grinch’s firing, though, seemed to galvanize USC’s past and future alike. Former players tweeted their relief at the move. And 2024 cornerback commit Marcellus Williams fired off a “fight on” symbol.

“With the guys that are committed,” said Sam Gallegos, father of USC 2024 safety commit Marquis Gallegos, “I think it reassures us that USC is committed to winning and they are willing to do everything it takes to win.”