COLUMN: Thoughts on Alex Grinch's firing and what comes next for USC

USC linebacker Mason Cobb, an orange hoodie lowered to just above his eyes, was asked Saturday night what coordinator Alex Grinch said to the unit after the Trojans' latest defensive debacle.

He shook his head no.

"I mean, there isn't much to say," Cobb responded. "We all know what happened."

Indeed -- 572 yards allowed to Washington in a 52-42 loss inside the Coliseum, 316 rushing yards for a Huskies offense that came in averaging just 102.2 and hadn't totaled more than 177 in any other game, 256 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns for a running back in Dillon Johnson who in four seasons had never rushed for more than 100 yards in a game, UW touchdowns on 7 of 10 full drives with only one punt forced and one turnover to temporarily pause the bleeding, 14 Huskies plays that went for 15 yards or more, consistently gaping rushing lanes with no adjustments to be seen, USC's third loss in the span of four games, the official reckoning that Caleb Williams will never get to lead this program into the College Football Playoff, and a resounding chorus of "I told you so"s from a fan base that questioned why coach Lincoln Riley retained Grinch this season and that has reminded him of that after every deflating defensive performance this fall.

All that was left to be said or done was the announcement USC put out just before 12:30 p.m. PT Sunday that Riley had fired Grinch, effective immediately. It could wait no longer -- for everybody's sake.

RELATED: Our initial list of 10 potential defensive coordinator candidates USC should consider

Riley will address the decision with media Monday after practice, when he'll surely face some of the same questions he was asked and didn't want to answer after the game Saturday night -- like whether he regretted how he handled the defense (namely, retaining Grinch this year.)

"I understand the question, I know it's your all's job to ask it, I'm not into the big picture questions right now," he said, noting that there would be a more appropriate time for those decisions and conversations.

Riley probably already knew that time had come as he left the Coliseum on Saturday night.

I was about to hit publish on the first version on this column earlier Sunday when USC announced the news. A lot of the original version noted that not only could Grinch not return next season, but it would be merciful to him to end it now, lest he be a public pinata for fans and critics the rest of this season. Nobody needed that. He's a good guy, he tried his best -- it simply (and very clearly) didn't work.

Riley did the right thing, like he long ago said he would.

Back in January during an informal meeting with a small group of reporters, where he went over his takeaways from the 2022 season and took any and all questions for almost two hours while sitting around a table inside Heritage Hall, Riley said this:

"I'm all for continuity. I think it's a good thing if you have the right people, but sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it's not the right combination of people, it's not the right setting or it just doesn't quite click in, and at that point, when that happens, then you have to make changes. I mean, that's the nature of this business. Nobody likes it and it's one of the ugly parts of it, but it's real. And I could promise you if I felt that way, then I would make changes," he said.

He didn't feel that way then, of course.

But a lot of the talk around what Riley would or wouldn't do, could or couldn't do, was always off base.

Riley has taken a lot of heat this year for his decision to retain Grinch, and the results as they played out validate the criticism. But a lot of the commentary has gone beyond the decision itself and bubbled over into whether Riley can make tough decisions needed to lead a program.

He had already done it once -- firing defensive coordinator Mike Stoops (the brother of the guy who hired Riley) in October of his second season as head coach at Oklahoma. Why would anyone think he couldn't bring himself to part with Grinch (eventually)?

It kept getting tossed around that their friendship was blinding Riley from what needed to be done. Riley and Grinch didn't even know each other until five years ago. Riley's inner circle seems to be comprised of people who have been in it for a decade or two -- the guys he goes fishing with every offseason in Cabo San Lucas like WRs coach Dennis Simmons and director of football operations Clarke Stroud, etc.

Riley didn't bring Grinch to USC because of friendship -- he truly believed he was the right man for the job.

Coaches get those decisions wrong all the time. It happens, you reevaluate, assess and make a change, like Riley did.

Why was Riley so confident in Grinch when so many others predicted this ending?

As he has said many times, he saw Grinch at his best and what he could do. Oklahoma finished that 2018 season -- the one in which Riley fired Mike Stoops -- 114th in total defense (453.8 YPG). In Grinch's first season in 2019, the Sooners ranked 38th (356.4) and then 29th in 2020 (350.6).

It wasn't all pretty and the Sooners' defense tailed off in Riley and Grinch's final season at Oklahoma in 2021, ranking 76th (390.8), but if one puts aside their venom for Grinch for a moment they might see why Riley had confidence in him.

It was also plainly clear to anyone listening that Riley wasn't going to fire Grinch after the struggles down the stretch last season because they both knew the talent and depth was severely lacking on the defensive side -- this was going to be a multi-year rebuild and he was going to give Grinch a fair chance to see it through.

And this season, Grinch had that fair chance.

Riley himself touted the defensive potential this year, how dramatically the front seven had improved, how the depth everywhere was much better, and that there was no reason USC couldn't have a very good defense.

It didn't happen. In fact, it got worse. More to the point, it kept getting worse.

Last season, the first with Riley and Grinch, USC gave up its most yards per game in program history -- 423.9, which well exceeded the previous nadir of 408.9 (from 2021). This season, the Trojans are now giving up 436 yards per game (119th out of 130 FBS teams) and a program-worst 34.5 points per game (121st) and it only figures to get worse next week at Oregon (the top scoring offense in the country at 47.4 PPG).

Over the last six games, USC has given up 44.2 PPG and 483.7 YPG with one disastrous performance being topped by the next and then the next as the Trojans -- once 6-0, ranked in the top 10 nationally and chasing a College Football Playoff spot -- have lost three of their last four games. (The yardage numbers would be even worse if not for the outlier of allowing 251 yards to Notre Dame despite losing 48-20 as the Irish worked with short fields and scored defensive and special teams touchdowns, limiting its offense's time on the field.)

It's mostly been bad all season, but Saturday was the worst of the worst -- the worst USC defensive performance under Grinch along with the Cotton Bowl collapse. Call them 1A and 1B. But the defense looked utterly outcoached, befuddled and at a certain point hopeless vs. the Huskies. Unlike previous bad performances, there wasn't even a bright spot for Riley to emphasize as a rallying point.

Like Cobb put it, there was nothing more to say.

Late in the first half, the ABC broadcast showed an overhead shot of Grinch gathering the defense around him to give instructions and then raising his hand in the air expecting the players to join him and break it down before taking the field. None did as they all walked away, Grinch eventually lowered his hand and the defensive drubbing continued.

It may have meant nothing, but it felt symbolic after the fact.

All kinds of stats poured out on social media after the game to put the defensive demise in context.

Like the fact that USC and Washington have now met on the football field 86 times, going back to 1923, and the Huskies had never scored more than 34 points in any of those games -- before putting up 35 in the first-half alone Saturday night.

Or that this is the first time in program history that USC has allowed at least 34 points in six straight games (credit Shotgun Spratling).

Ultimately, it all just adds up to the conclusion that Riley himself finally came to sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning -- it was time for change.

Well past time, many will argue, and that's certainly fair. In this case, Riley was wrong and the critics were right.

And many will say I'm wrong when I say this, but I still think the sea change of sentiments toward Riley overall has gone too far.

USC fans wouldn't have been letdown this season if the Trojans had never hired Riley, because without him, expectations almost assuredly wouldn't have been as high as they were.

Caleb Williams wouldn't be here without Riley. Many of the top transfers who contributed to turning a 4-8 program into an 11-win team last season wouldn't have been here without Riley. With any other hiring, this would have been an acknowledged, accepted prolonged rebuild from the start given the talent level within the program at the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Criticize Riley for his pick of defensive coordinator. Criticize him for being stubbornly resolute until now that he was right and that the critics with "untrained eyes" were wrong about the defense all this time.

But also don't forget that USC pulled a coup in hiring Riley in the first place and enjoyed immediate gratification from it last fall.

Or that for whatever the unhinged Oklahoma fans on Twitter say, he still went 55-10 there and reached three CFPs in five years and that an overwhelming majority of FBS programs around the country would give him the keys today without a blink of hesitation. Somehow, that perspective has been lost through the animus over the Grinch matter.

Yes, it is most definitely a shame that a generational talent like Williams won't get to the College Football Playoff or come anywhere close to a national championship. Be frustrated that the Trojans missed a window to achieve something greater these last two years.

But also remember that Riley has another five-star QB waiting for his opportunity in Malachi Nelson and already has a commitment from the No. 1 QB in the 2026 class in Julian Lewis (who could possibly reclassify into the 2025 class). Or that he'll continue to attract top QBs because he's coached three Heisman Trophy winners and a runner-up in seven years as a head coach.

One can choose to stay focused on the rearview, the what-ifs and especially the "I told you so"s. Or one can find fresh excitement for the future and hope that USC can nail its defensive coordinator hire the way UCLA did with D'Anton Lynn last offseason, immediately transforming its defense from one that ranked 87th last year (403.8 YPG) to one that now ranks 13th in giving up just 294.3 YPG.

Of course, Riley has to hire the right guy ... and prove to his doubters that he can.

But the bottom line is, Grinch is gone now and it's time to look forward -- not back.