College Football

USC fires defensive coordinator Alex Grinch

Published Nov. 5, 2023 4:00 p.m. ET

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USC has fired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, the school announced Sunday. 

The news comes after the Trojans gave up 52 points in a loss against Washington on Saturday, dropping the Trojans to 7-3 on the season and knocking them out of the AP Top 25 (and likely the College Football Playoff top 25 as well) for the first time since Lincoln Riley took over the program before the 2022 season.

Grinch was in his second year at USC, having arrived from Oklahoma with Riley at the end of 2021. He had previously been defensive coordinator under Riley's mentor, the late Mike Leach, at Washington State as well as Ohio State before joining Oklahoma in 2019.

Grinch had come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, as USC dropped three of its past four games after a 5-0 start to the season, with opponents averaging 45.6 points per game against the Trojans in that span. USC sweated out one-possession wins against two lower-tier Pac-12 opponents — Colorado and Arizona — in the two weeks prior to its recent skid, allowing 41 points in each of those two games.

Inside linebackers coach Brian Odom and defensive line coach Shaun Nua will take over co-defensive coordinator duties for the remainder of the season, USC said. 

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