A native Ohioan is officially coming home.
After a week or more of speculation, Ohio State confirmed Monday afternoon that Alex Grinch has been hired by Urban Meyer as his 10th assistant. Per the school’s release, his specific responsibilities will be announced at a later date.
Grinch is Urban Meyer’s hire to fill the 10th on-field assistant coach role that goes into effect today.
“I am pleased to announce the addition of Alex Grinch to our coaching staff,” a statement from the head coach began. “I am very impressed with his body of work while at Washington State, as many others were, and am happy he chose to come home to Ohio to become a part of our Buckeye coaching staff.”
Grinch, a Grove City, Ohio, native, spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Washington State. It’s expected he’ll hold at least a co-coordinator title at OSU.
During his time in Pullman, he took a Cougars defense that was 97th nationally before he arrived and turned it into one that was 16th this past season. For that, he earned a semifinalist nod for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.
Prior to Wazzu, the 37-year-old Grinch spent time as a defensive backs coach at Missouri (2012-14), Wyoming (2009-11). In addition to his coordinating duties, he was also the secondary coach at Wazzu.