Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell addressed one of the program’s headline-grabbing moments of the offseason at Big Ten media days on Tuesday.
That is the hire of former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to its new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator.
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The Badgers made the hire in late January after safeties coach Colin Hitschler left for the same position on Kalen DeBoer’s staff at Alabama.
Grinch was available after being fired as USC’s defensive coordinator midway through the 2023 season.
“I want guys that have had a lot of tough situations,” Fickell said. “Guys that have gone through that and humbled themselves and you can recognize that, I think they are a hell of a lot better in the long run.”
USC decided to move on from Grinch as his 2023 defense was in the midst of a season where it finished ranked No. 119 in the nation with 432.8 yards allowed per game, No. 121 in scoring defense with 34.4 points allowed per game and finished ranked No. 105 in ESPN SP+. That is after his unit finished No. 106, No. 93 and No. 87 respectively in 2022.
The Trojans were among the worst defensive teams in the nation during his two years at the helm, prompting many fans to wonder why the Badgers would make the hire.
Grinch does have a successful track record as an assistant, however, just not as a coordinator. He was a four-time Broyles Award nominee for the nation’s top assistant coach, including a semifinalist in 2017 and 2019.
His coaching experience includes working as the safeties coach at Missouri (2012-2014), defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Washington State (2015-2017), co-DC and safeties coach at Ohio State (2018), DC and safeties coach under Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma (2019-2021) and in the same position once Riley left for USC (2022-2023).
“We didn’t overlap at the time at Ohio State, but had some mutual connections and knew that our ideas and things we do aligned in a lot of ways,” Fickell added. “Once I got to know him and met him a little bit, to see and feel the humility that he had and all the things he went through, never complained, never made an excuse, never pointed a finger. He’s a very smart football coach that is a hell of a lot better now even then he was then because of those experiences.”
Asked Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell about hiring former USC DC Alex Grinch (now the safeties coach/co-DC at Wisconsin) after a tough year at USC.
Talked about Grinch’s humility in what he went through without pointing fingers: pic.twitter.com/f3QW3CEpw4
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) July 23, 2024
Grinch is set to coach a safeties room that will be led by star Hunter Wohler in 2024. He will also co-coordinate a defense that is expected to take a significant step forward after a solid performance in 2023.
Wisconsin’s head coach is certainly confident in Grinch being a positive addition to his staff despite his recent track record as a defensive coordinator.
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