Pete Thamel, Rece Davis consider whether USC should fire Alex Grinch

USC’s much maligned defense is under scrutiny again and that means Alex Grinch is the main target.

The Trojans defensive coordinator coached under Lincoln Riley since his Oklahoma days, but patience could be wearing thin. USC is undefeated, yes, but the defense has yet to improve in terms of scoring, especially with two straight close calls against Colorado and Arizona.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Rece Davis considered whether USC should fire Grinch at this point.

“The notion of firing Alex Grinch, it’s not like it’s some great insight, right, it’s something that I think a lot of USC fans want to happen,” Thamel said on the College GameDay Podcast. “And then last year, I wasn’t as vociferous like some others were that it needed to happen because he didn’t have good personnel. The personnel has been upgraded, the results have not been.

“So here’s an interesting philosophical question. Firing coordinators … Will that make it better here? That’s the hard question.” 

Whether or not Grinch is the direct problem, Thamel and Davis tried to determine if getting rid of the DC would make an instant impact.

“Like just because you fire the guy like was he unpopular, will people rally around his absence, do you have an experienced defensive play caller who could step in and call the plays like, is he an impediment to winning or is he just not doing a good job,” Thamel said.

“Right like the results indicate he’s not doing a good job. You have to identify a coordinator as an impediment to winning … USC doesn’t have a Kliff Kingsbury on defense, a coach with that experience like they do on the offensive side sitting behind the scenes.”

As far as what the problem is, Grinch or the lack of execution from the players, Davis came to Grinch’s defense in the latter.

“I think sometimes we get this misconception of ‘well these guys don’t know what they’re doing, they’re not calling the right play, they’re not studying film, they don’t understand the concepts and the offense they’re facing,’ nothing could be further from the truth,” Davis said.

“What’s happening is that the players for whatever reason, aren’t executing the message that’s being given to them by the coaches. That’s not absolving the coaches. It’s the coach’s job, to get them to absorb it and execute it.”

Grinch has the support of the players, at least in Davis’ eyes. So why upset the apple cart at this time?

“The one thing I would say that I would find in favor of not firing Alex Grinch is the players,” Davis said. “Not after this game, but the previous one, I believe they came to his defense and said: ‘Hey, we know what to do. We’re not getting it done,’ which signals to me that they are getting the message but something is getting lost from understanding what to do to actually doing it on the field.”