It appears the reshaping of the Ohio State coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball has commenced in earnest.
Earlier this week, there were rumblings that Oklahoma was looking to poach Alex Grinch from Ohio State. While there’s nothing yet official from either school, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic is reporting that Grinch is expected to become the next defensive coordinator for the Sooners.
BREAKING: #OhioState’s Alex Grinch is expected to become the next defensive coordinator at #OU, per source. He was a semifinalist for the 2017 Broyles Award. Grinch worked wonders at WAZZU turning a defense ranked outside the top 100 into one ranked No. 34 by the time he left WSU
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 4, 2019
Grinch is the permanent replacement for Mike Stoops, who was fired in early October in the midst of his seventh season with the Sooners. Ruffin McNeil had served as interim coordinator during OU’s run to the College Football Playoff.
Grinch just completed his first season as OSU’s co-defensive coordinator. Prior to that, Grinch, a Grove City, Ohio, native, spent the previous three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Washington State.
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 in 2017. For that, he earned a semifinalist nod for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.
The seemingly imminent departure of Grinch could be the first in a series of defensive moves for new head coach Ryan Day‘s first OSU staff. Prior to the Rose Bowl, defensive coordinator Greg Schiano didn’t sound like a person who was confident he would be returning to the Buckeyes in 2019.