After two seasons of disappointment and amid hovering frustration with its struggling protection, USC fired Alex Grinch as its defensive coordinator Sunday.
The transfer got here after greater than a yr of festering furor amongst USC followers and fewer than 24 hours after an excruciating nadir for Grinch’s protection, which gave up 571 yards in a 52-42 loss to Washington on Saturday evening. The defeat all however erased any remaining hope for a Pac-12 Convention title for the Trojans..
USC defensive position coach Shaun Nua and inside linebackers coach Brian Odom will function interim co-defensive coordinators for the ultimate two video games of the season, in addition to the bowl recreation, whereas defensive analyst Taylor Mays has been elevated to an on-field assistant function teaching safeties.
It’s unclear if anybody can be able to undoing this season’s steep downward spiral on the defensive facet. By virtually each accessible metric, USC has one of many worst defenses in school soccer. By means of 10 video games, the unit has given up 34.5 factors per recreation, on tempo for the worst mark at school historical past by a large margin. It ranks within the backside 15 within the nation not solely in factors allowed, but additionally yards allowed (436 yards per recreation), rush protection (186.5 yards per recreation), performs of 10-plus yards (150) and performs of 20-plus yards allowed (62).
And nonetheless, these statistics don’t absolutely seize the futility of the protection, which had been in a tailspin since late final season. The ultimate month of the 2022 season noticed the Trojans quit almost 2,000 yards earlier than hitting all-time low in a crushing Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane. USC gave up over 10 yards per play within the recreation, and followers responded in form, calling for Grinch’s job.
Coach Lincoln Riley might have made a transfer then. Nonetheless, he caught by his coordinator.
That call, final January, would come to outline this season. Requested Saturday evening if he regretted his dealing with of the scenario, Riley stated it wasn’t the time to reply any “big-picture questions.”
“I do know as a head coach, all of it falls underneath my duty finally and I don’t shrink back from that and I by no means have,” Riley stated. “However there are occasions and locations for these discussions and people will occur on the acceptable instances.”
That point apparently got here Sunday, not lengthy after USC had fallen out of the Related Press high 25 for the primary time in Riley’s tenure.
USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch walks again to the locker room earlier than Saturday’s 52-42 loss to Washington on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Riley as soon as earlier than made the same choice, at the same juncture of the season, to fireplace his defensive coordinator. Mike Stoops had worn out his welcome with Oklahoma followers by that time, after he oversaw a steep decline within the Sooners’ protection, from thirty ninth in complete protection in 2015 to 96th in 2018.
In Stoops’ place, Riley employed Grinch, whom he knew by means of Mike Leach, his mentor in teaching. The 2 coaches had been collectively since 2019, when Riley lured Grinch away from Ohio State. They spent three seasons collectively at Oklahoma, main the Sooners twice to the Faculty Soccer Playoff. Later, at USC, Riley typically used their tenure in Oklahoma as proof of Grinch’s means to rebuild a protection.
Oklahoma would possibly quibble with that model of occasions, as its protection struggled in comparable style to USC by the tip of that tenure. However when Riley left for USC two Novembers in the past, Grinch was on the aircraft with him out of Oklahoma.
“I’ve been by means of it sufficient with that man to know, don’t wager towards him,” Riley stated of Grinch final January. “I do know what he’s made from. I simply do, and I do know it’s on the point of occur defensively, and so I simply have a confidence and a perception there in not simply Alex, however the different guys within the room.”
Riley’s loyalty to his coordinator and pal would come underneath critical scrutiny, as each coaches stated they have been assured USC’s protection would shake off its disappointing end in 2022. Riley stated he deliberate to take extra of an energetic function on protection, whereas Grinch took accountability for the unit’s woes. The 2 coaches rebuilt their defensive entrance by means of the switch portal, including an All-Large 12 linebacker and a number of former five-star prospects. All indicators pointed towards some measure of progress.
As an alternative, USC’s protection took two steps again. After a clean first month, the Trojans returned from every week off and have been by no means fairly the identical on protection. The Trojans struggled to deal with at Arizona State and almost allowed a fourth-quarter comeback at Colorado. In every of the six video games after USC’s week off, the protection gave up a minimum of 34 factors.
Riley continued to publicly specific his confidence in Grinch till the tip. However the Trojans’ embattled coordinator appeared to know how dire his scenario was Tuesday.
“Couldn’t be extra disenchanted in myself,” Grinch stated. “You’re continually taking a look at calls. Clearly, you’re taking a look at personnel. We gotta get it mounted, and we gotta get it mounted quick.”
The repair didn’t come quick sufficient. By Saturday, as Washington drove down the sphere with ease, USC’s embattled protection had clearly hit all-time low. Defenders have been out of place. Gaps have been left unattended. Followers bemoaned a second misplaced season with Caleb Williams, the Trojans’ generational quarterback.
Afterward, within the postgame information convention, even USC gamers struggled to cause with the breakdowns. Requested what Grinch advised his protection within the aftermath, linebacker Mason Cobb shrugged.
“There isn’t a lot to say,” Cobb stated.
The ultimate phrase lastly got here Sunday, two video games earlier than the tip of USC’s common season — and maybe a full yr too late.
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