Colorado head coach candidates: Pros and cons of Alex Grinch
The Colorado Buffaloes are going west to face the USC Trojans on Friday. These two teams have had wildly different seasons: USC has just one loss and is firmly entrenched in the College Football Playoff discussion.
The Buffs have just one win and are dealing with a limited offense (which just lost emerging WR Jordyn Tyson for the year), and are in the middle of a head coaching search.
One of the options for the next Buffs HC will be on the USC sideline on Friday night, defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. We have mentioned Grinch as a candidate before, but with the USC game approaching, let’s examine some pros and cons of Grinch coming to Boulder.
PRO: LOW RISK, HIGH REWARD
Here’s one of the biggest benefits: Grinch would be relatively cheap for Colorado athletic director Rick George. They still owe money to Karl Dorrell, so spending big on a head coach might be difficult for them. Grinch makes north of $1 million as the DC at USC, so Colorado will need to top that. But, this is a low-risk, high-reward signing.
PRO: IMPROVED THE DEFENSE AT USC
This is a tough one to state right now. But, believe it or not, the Trojans’ defense surprised a ton of people early on — and Grinch is the reason for that. Over the last few weeks, injuries have hit USC hard, which could be one reason for the defensive decline. Nonetheless, Colorado’s defense has been awful, and Grinch would at least improve the defensive unit in Boulder.
PRO: EXPERIENCE
Alex Grinch is an experienced assistant that would bring plenty of upside to the Colorado Buffaloes. Grinch spent time at Washington State, Ohio State and Oklahoma before following Lincoln Riley to Los Angeles. He has also worked with Mike Leach and Urban Meyer. That’s a terrific list.
PRO: YOUNG
Grinch is only 42 and won’t turn 43 until May of 2023. The Buffs have a ton of rumored candidates for this job — Gary Patterson, Bronco Mendenhall and other older coaches. But perhaps a young, up-and-coming coordinator is the way to go for Colorado.
CON: NO HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE
Yes, the experience was one of the pros. However, Grinch has not been a head coach before. Does Rick George roll the dice on a first-time head coach?
CON: STEPPING STONE JOB
Unfortunately, Colorado isn’t a premier destination for future head coaches. If anything, this is a stepping-stone job. Mel Tucker used Colorado as such before moving to Michigan State, and that could very well happen again with the next head coach.
If Grinch goes to Boulder and does well, he should have no problem getting a better job in a few seasons, putting Colorado back in the same exact position it’s in now.
Further reading
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