New WSU defensive coordinator publicly spoke to the media for the first time on Friday. Here is a transcription of what he said:
 

Question: What defense do you plan to run at WSU?

Alex Grinch: We'll base out of a 3-4, which, hard to say exactly whether similar or not so much to what’s been done in the past but at least similar up to that point in a 3-4 structure. Three down lineman with four linebackers and four on the back end.

So that will give us the ability to be multiple from a coverage standpoint and from a pressure standpoint so that would be a good initial base rundown of what it is.

Q: Could you describe your relationship with coach David Yost?
AG: I know coach Yost going back to the early 2000s so I've known him a long time, certainly our communication back and forth over the years contributed to that relationship and our most recent communication included the position that was available here at Washington State. That, without question, kind of started the ball rolling.

Q: How long did the hiring process take?
AG: Fairly quickly, and I would tell this to everybody, I was very comfortable in my role at Missouri. I was in a position to coach very similar to the Pac-12, to coach in the SEC, and we were able to win a couple championships the last couple years as well as January bowl games, which lends itself to a comfort level there.

 

I wasn't necessarily looking for a job but the opportunity to come to a place like a Washington State though, in the Pac-12, in the coordinator position, was something that I was extremely interested in and so really over the last week that kind of took shape and here we are.

Q: Have you had a chance to meet with the players or watch film on them?
AG: I've seen a little bit of film and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to watch a lot more. I'll do the best job I can in terms of keeping an open mind in terms of my personnel evaluations and that moving forward, just as I would hope that they would have an open mind with the changes that are presented to them in the next few months leading up to spring football.

So, I think it's important that both sides afford each other those opportunities. Watching film and getting a baseline evaluation for both personnel and the overall scheme from a year ago, obviously there are going to be some changes, obviously there is, like anything, there's not a whole lot of magic to any defensive package so I'm sure there will be some similarities as well and some changes in terminology and those things.

But I'll continue to work an evaluation of last year's tape and get a feel or baseline for where everything's at but otherwise over the next few weeks, I'm in Pullman now with nine student-athletes this weekend for official visits. I'll be on the road Sunday with the rest of the staff and really this next month will include weeks on the road recruiting, shoring up this class, and then weekends in town for official visits so it will be an aggressive month of recruiting while still trying to work to finish our staff on the defensive side of the ball while working through some playbook stuff and those things so we hit the ground running when we visit with our guys.

Q: Do you know what you will do with the final defensive coaching position?
AG: What we want to do is we want to get the best candidate available, any way you slice it. You could possibly go with two around the defensive line, two with the possibly inside-outside linebackers, possibly two in the secondary so our aim right now is to get the best teacher, the best recruiter we possibly can to bring in here to help us on the defensive side of the ball.

Q: How long are you signed on at WSU?
AG: I'm signed on to coach this team through spring football and next fall.

Q: How can you create more turnovers?
AG: Well there's not a magic answer and we're all searching for one but I think there's a couple ingredients: one is bringing guys into understanding how important they are and it's not a "try to" type of thing – it's imperative that we get the ball out, it's imperative that we attack the football when it's in the air. Every time that ball's throw is an opportunity to change possession if you're doing the right thing coverage-wise, so I think that's where it starts is making sure that the guys understand to try to create turnovers and attacking the football is not a self-conscious thing, it's not a hope we get lucky approach.

It starts in practice and it starts with as many bodies as we possibly can get to the point of attack and that goes back to scheme and making sure we're doing the right things from a soundness defensively, making sure guys are playing aggressive and you'll hear me in every interview talk about guys playing "downhill."

When you do those things the more guys you get to the football, the more confidence they have in their pursuit to the football, lends itself to an aggressiveness that when you're at the point of attack you've got a chance to be more violent when you get there because you know exactly what to do, where you need to be, how you need to fit so some of the things it does come down to our teaching and that and some of that is defensive scheme.

Some of it's how you practice. Every team in America will do takeaway, takeaway circus where you're stripping, you're scooping, you're punching so without question those are trained habits so that will be included but every single play in practice there's an opportunity to get a turnover, whether it's on 7-on-7 or 1-on-1, when you go 11-on-11 against the offense, so every play in a game lends itself to being an opportunity to get the ball back for our offense.

Really, the brainwashing needs to begin in earnest so the guys understand that their responsibility is to get the ball back for the offense. And again, some of it's mindset, some of it's technique and some of it's the defensive scheme being taught as such so the guys can be aggressive.

Q: Are there any challenges or positives you see coaching a young defense?
AG: Well I think the positive is you always kind of want to, the idea of having a little bit more of a clean slate allows you to train them in ways that you don't have to break bad habits so you may kind of point to that.

But hopefully when you're talking about young football players, and even guys that have experience, what we need is a room full of guys that are sponges to what we're teaching and so in a our world I think that's important: that every single guy in that room has the ability to get better. It's got to be our expectation as a coaching staff they do just that and then their expectations of us are that we do a great job teaching them and developing them so that they can be successful.

Obviously, more successful than last year, sure. But what our aim's got to be is practice two of spring football they've got to be better than practice one. And so when you're talking about, again, I think young and old but I think no matter what end of the spectrum you're at we need a room full of guys trying to get better.

Q: What will your recruiting area be?
AG: That hasn't been decided. Once we finish the staff that will obviously be a bit of a shakeup that way but at this point it hasn't been defined.

Q: How important is it for you to sell recruits that they should choose WSU for the same reasons you did?
AG: Well I think you bring up a good point. They're in a situation, almost to the man, where they obviously have other options. Whether they're in the conference or out of the conference.

Obviously in a completely different stage of life when you're talking career-wise, but I had options and my main option was to stay put exactly where I was. And so there was enough here in Pullman, enough at Washington State and specific to Mike Leach's program where he's been successful everywhere he's ever been, to make me want to I guess, quite honestly, leave a comfort zone to come out here and be a part of this program.

Any time you're making the transition from high school to college, unless you're from Pullman, you're going to leave your comfort zone in one respect or another. So without question you bring up a good point, it's probably more similar despite the different stages of life than you might assume.

Q: Do you approach junior college recruits in a special manner?
AG: One I think, part of the evaluation changes because when you're talking about a junior college player your time to develop them is obviously a lot shorter. Everyone can still develop whether they're coming from high school or junior college but again, you won't have as much time with them.

What you're hoping to get is someone that possesses a little higher skillset than a high school kid. So that's part of it. You want a guy that can make an instant impact on your program in some capacity or another.

Beyond that almost every single one of those guys is not confused as to the short duration that they're going to have an opportunity to spend playing in the Pac-12. So you've got to develop a plan very quickly, you've got to earmark a place where they can help you, to see the field right away, and then you've got to do a good sales job in terms of them understanding what you're going to do to develop them, to have a plan in place for a very short period of time.

So it is a unique recruiting process with junior college players.

Q: Did coach Yost contact you about the job?
AG: Quite honestly it was more of a call for a casual conversation about anything other than Missouri football or WSU football and then as the conversation progressed, I kind of mentioned my desire to look at coordinator opportunities if they presented themselves in the right opportunity, in the right situation and then obviously with the opening still here at Washington State that changed the tone of the conversation a little bit and it kind of went from there and it progressed.

Q: Did Yost go to Mike Leach at that point?
AG: That would be the long and short of it, yeah. Pretty quick back and forth I guess from there and then I had an opportunity to come out here this past weekend and get a chance to visit and talk.

Q: When did you have your original conversation with coach Yost?
AG: About a week or so ago.

Q: When did Leach get ahold of you?
A: Shortly thereafter.

Q: When did you arrive in Pullman.
A: Sunday.

Q: How do you react to people that would question if you're ready to be a coordinator?
AG: First, I haven't met anyone that was born into a coordinator role so based on my experience everyone has progressed through the ranks, if you will, to get an opportunity to run their own defense or offense over time.

Beyond that, all opinions will take place after a week we start playing games in the fall. I'm worried about the results that we produce at that time as opposed to everyone's feelings about me.

Q: Have you heard any good jokes about your last name?
A: I don't know what you're talking about. As a family, we've developed a lot of mental toughness.

Q: Has Leach decided for sure if Eric Mele will stay as the special teams coach?
A: That's a question for coach Leach.

Q: Has it been determined that you will coach the defensive backs?
A: Well we're still looking for one more hire here on the defensive side of the ball and trying to find the best candidate available regardless of position. I have a real comfort level on the back end and so if we got that direction I'd feel very confident in having all four (defensive backs).

Over the course of my career, other than really the last couple years at Missouri, have had the entire back end and there's some positives to that in terms of cross-training and those things so I would be comfortable if that was the direction we took.

Q: Have you talked to any other schools about other jobs?
AG: I have, I have. None progressed and none I felt were the right opportunity for my family and that would not just be this offseason but every offseason so this is the one that got the antennas up.

Q: Were any of them coordinator jobs?
AG: The majority of jobs I've talked about over the last few years have been coordinator jobs.

Q: How about this winter?
AG: This winter possibly.

Q: Did any of them progress to the point of an offer?
AG: I haven't found the right opportunity.

Q: What reason did you give coach Leach as to why he should hire you?
AG: Not to put words in coach Leach's mouth but along those lines my only aim in looking at this opportunity was to have an opportunity to help WSU win football games. Therein lies the motivation. This is an opportunity for me to do just that.

I think philosophically, my approach, what I've been in the past, where I've been in the past, and what we've been able to accomplish has developed that philosophy. Coach wants to find a way to be more aggressive on the defensive side of the ball. I think the package lends itself to that. He wants to produce more takeaways. I think our teaching and practice structure will lend itself to that. It's important to get off the field on third downs. There's going to be a huge emphasis on that. And then obviously it's important to play good defense in the red zone and make teams count in threes instead of sevens, that can have a huge impact on winning and losing as well.

So I think all those ingredients, I think play into it and all those things I think is stuff that you can sell to the players. It's something guys can kind of wrap their heads around and hang on to in terms of what we are as a defense and I think the final thing on all those things is making sure that not one team we face out-efforts us and making sure that the produce ton the field shows a group of guys that are absolutely flying to the football and dying to produce. So again, whether that answers your question or hits home with coach Leach, that's kind of where we're at.

Q: What confidence did your successful teams at Mount Union have and how does that translate into your coaching?
A: Well one, I appreciate you bringing up my playing career. Two, both there and really every stop along the way, like you said we've won the bulk of our games there and I think it developed an approach that we were going to find a way and it wasn't always going to be easy and we were going to have to grind it out. You don't win that many games by blowing everybody out.

But a "find a way" approach, if you've got to win a game 10-7 you're going to find a way to get that done regardless of what's going on on the other side of the ball. But I've been fortunate. A four-year run at New Hampshire where at that level of football you finish in the Top-10 rankings, play in the playoffs, and two bowl games in my three years at Wyoming, a couple SEC championships in my time at Missouri.

I think at every place I've been the common ingredients have included tremendous effort, it's included a great teaching system starting with the coaches and the product on the field has been a result, if nothing else, of at least those two things.

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