Lincoln Riley stood by his decision to fire defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in the regular season, saying USC still has 'a lot to play for' this year.
head coach Lincoln Riley said Monday that the decision to fire defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in USC's regular season was made in large part because the Trojans still have"a lot to play for" this year.
At 7-3 and 5-2 in conference play, USC would need to beat Oregon and UCLA in its last two matchups of the season and receive some major help from its conference counterparts to make it to the Pac-12 title game for the second straight season under Riley. But, as the second-year coach expressed a belief that USC is"two snaps" from being undefeated, he remained adamant that it still has a shot at turning the season around.
"I knew it was a decision that was the right decision at this time and point, but certainly didn't make it easy," Riley said."But I am that committed, and we are all that committed to playing great defense here and whatever it takes to get that done, that's what we're going to do." Until this weekend, Riley had stood by Grinch, whom he called"a friend" on Monday and praised for being the first assistant to agree to follow him from Oklahoma to USC.
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