Alex Grinch ready to start fresh in Madison

MADISON — Wisconsin’s new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s fall from grace was rapid. After calling the shots for an Oklahoma defense that appeared in two College Football Playoffs and sent five players to the NFL over three years, he followed his head coach Lincoln Riley to Southern California.

Grinch spent two seasons at USC, but after a 2023 campaign saw him coordinate a unit that finished 116th nationally in total defense, he was fired with two games left in the regular season. The Trojans’ defense was a national punching bag, perhaps the equivalent to Brian Ferentz’ offense at Iowa.

“When you don’t have success that you expect, you can circle that and highlight that, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But it also creates a chip on your shoulder. I’m not sure there would be anyone in the country with a bigger chip than what I have,” Grinch said.

Grinch’s 2023 Trojan defense struggled in just about every category. They finished 101st in passing yards per-game, 116th in rushing yards per-game and 106th in third down conversion percentage. Long story short? They couldn’t stop the run, they couldn’t stop the pass and unsurprisingly, they couldn’t get off the field.

It was a very poor showing for a coach that had climbed the ranks of the sport and coached it at the highest level. Grinch had been a defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator at four power conference schools before Wisconsin — Washington State, Ohio State, Oklahoma and USC.

“Number one, stand tall and be proud of who you are,” Grinch said of his time spent between jobs this offseason. “The one consistent thing from a success standpoint, a lot of times it comes with some hard times. Whether on an individual basis or a program basis. With Wisconsin, I wasn’t in the building every Sunday last year, but there’s some struggles when you’re going through the process of building…You get punched in the mouth, you try to set your jaw and get ready for what’s next.”

The initial reaction from Wisconsin fans when Grinch was hired was rather negative. Considering the coach is coming off a year calling the shots for one of the nation’s worst defenses, that’s understandable. But Grinch appears to take a very holistic approach — he won’t let one season define him.

“The championships, the high level of success that you had. You can’t just circle one. For instance, I can’t convince you of the one season we were elite as the only thing on the resume,” he said. “Sometimes, when you don’t have success, that gets circled as the only season you’ve ever coached.”

So how did the well-traveled coach find his way to Madison? Grinch has had gigs on both coasts, the Southwest, the Midwest. He has a family — a wife and two kids — to consider. The coach said Wisconsin “checked a lot of boxes.”

“There’s a respect factor across this country for the brand of Wisconsin football. That stems from number one obviously winning, but number two the brand of football, the blue-collar approach to things that’s very evident in my short time here,” he said. “And coach Fickell. Obviously his leadership and his success rate, proven approach to building a program.”

Southern California can make a lot of other places feel small and uninspiring. But Grinch says Madison was a significant draw for him as well.

“I think you’re talking about one of the best places to live in the county. If you’re looking at jobs, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be at places all over the country, a place with elite leadership, an elite program with a tried and true approach, a town like this, a college like this,” he said.

As the Badgers’ new safeties coach, Grinch inherits a room with a proven star in Hunter Wohler, experienced players such as Kamo’i Latu, Austin Brown and Preston Zachman, and a bevy of young talent waiting in the wings. He hasn’t been able to see them on the practice field yet, but Grinch loves the approach he’s seen from the entire team in the weight room.

“You say blue collar and it’s easy to say because it’s cloudy outside and it's cold. But no, it has to be in the building. It has to permeate the walls. When guys show up every single day, they’re clocked in,” he said. “The outside world would be awfully proud of what’s going on in this building.”

Grinch has moved on from the disappointment of his tenure in south Los Angeles. He’s hopped on the moving train that is Wisconsin football under Luke Fickell, and he yearns to recapture the success that got him where he is today.

“When you’ve competed for championships in a number of different conferences…and every stop along the way having success, you long to feel that.”