Wisconsin and Luke Fickell are on the verge of losing co-DC to the Big 12 program

With so much movement for players in the transfer portal, it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of coaches on the move too. Will this be the case for Wisconsin co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Alex Grinch? That seems to be the case.

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, the University of Central Florida has targeted Grinch as the Knights’ new defensive coordinator. Grinch has a lot of experience, his first stop as a DC was in Washington state. He hasn’t been in Madison very long, but he already seems to be on his way.

UPDATE: UCF has officially announced that Grinch is taking on the role of the program’s new defensive coordinator.

Wisconsin co-DC Alex Grinch was hired by UCF

Scott Frost was recently re-hired as UCF’s head coach. He quickly sets about adding to his staff and Grinch heads south to Florida. After a strong start to his DC career at Washington State, Grinch transferred to Ohio State, followed by stops at Oklahoma and USC.

Fickell hired Grinch last offseason, but he will be one and is done with the program. While Fickell has been busy landing transfer portal commitments, he now needs to find help on his defense. Mike Tressel remains in town, but Fickell will certainly hire a new employee.

Grinch’s departure was something not many people expected. However, Frost called and did everything he could to poach the Wisconsin assistant. While this isn’t a huge loss for the Wisconsin coaching staff, it still caught many fans a bit off guard.

This will now be the ninth program that Grinch has participated in. Over the course of his career, he has been an assistant at Missouri, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Washington State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Wisconsin and now UCF.