Most Valuable Coach
Ohio State officially introduced new defensive assistants Alex Grinch and Taver Johnson to reporters this week.
Both coaches were defensive coordinators before coming to OSU, which gives them valuable experience that they will be able to utilize now on Urban Meyer’s staff.
Experience in handling multiple roles is what makes Greg Schiano so important to Meyer. As a head coach at both Rutgers and Tampa Bay in the NFL, Schiano understands what it is to lead a program, as well as what a head coach needs in his assistants. Just as Johnson and Grinch use their experiences to better the OSU staff, so does Schiano.
“He’s essential to our program right now, Coach Schiano,” Meyer said. “If he is not my best recruiter, he’s certainly right there near the top. He manages so much for me off the field as well as being one of the top defensive coordinators in America. And he’s a relationship person. He’s not one of those coaches that knows his position or that side of the ball and that’s it, he knows everyone. Because he’s been a head coach before.”
Replacing a Legend
Before Kerry Coombs was setting NFL Draft records at Ohio State, Taver Johnson was sending Buckeye cornerbacks to the NFL as well. Johnson’s reputation in college football as a cornerbacks coach at OSU was second to none.
When Coombs came to Ohio State, however, the standards were raised. A lot of that was because of Urban Meyer’s recruiting, but there is no downplaying Coombs’ effectiveness as a teacher.
Does Johnson find the success of his predecessor intimidating?
“Intimidating? No. Pressure? Always,” he said. “Kerry’s done a great job with those guys. The whole staff has done an outstanding job. Not just producing those first rounders, but just quality young men that come through these doors.”
Johnson isn’t trying to ignore the success that his room is now accustomed to. He is excited to continue what Kerry Coombs started.
“I told the guys that I know I have some big shoes to fill, and I’m accepting that challenge and I’m excited about it,” he said. “That’s the one thing about Ohio State, it’s not just talent-based people that come into the program. There’s really, really great people. Coach Meyer attracts those kind of people, from his staff to his players. I’m just thankful to be here to do that.”
Comparing Apples to Mufflers
It’s probably not a surprise to think working for Washington State head coach Mike Leach is a little bit different than working for Urban Meyer.
Leach is known off the field for quirky, off-the-cuff rants or thoughts, and isn’t 24/7 football like many college football coaches. He does things at his own pace and apologizes for none of it. Meyer, meanwhile, practices the same “4-to-6, A-to-B” mantra that he preaches.
So, with Alex Grinch having worked for Leach the past three seasons, and now at OSU under Meyer, how do the two coaches compare?
“Comparing the two, there is no comparison. I’ll leave it there,” he said. “There’s no comparison between the two in terms of the day to day and those things. Coach Leach was very, very good to me. He gave me the opportunity to be a coordinator, and that’s a big hire for a guy that he didn’t know. I’m indebted to him. He was good to me over the years because it certainly wasn’t an easy ride over the last three years at that program as we attempted to build that as high as we could make it.”
While the two head coaches are polar opposites in terms of their approach, Grinch grew considerably as a coach under Leach’s tutelage.
“So very appreciative of coach Leach, and the opportunity that he presented was one where you had full autonomy on one side of the football,” he said. “And that’s a unique thing in this profession, to say ‘Sink or swim, go run this side of the football.’ Especially as a first-time coordinator. So that was a very enticing role that was presented to me and it’s something that I attempted every day to take advantage of, and I like to think we had some success in our time there.”
