Big 12 Football: 5 best candidates to replace Lincoln Riley at OU

Alex Grinch, OU defensive coordinator

The simple answer for the Sooners to replace the now-departed Riley would be just to promote someone on the current coaching staff. But only one name really sticks out in that regard as to who Oklahoma could promote on their current staff. Third-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is certainly an interesting name for the Sooners, but wouldn’t be the biggest splash hire that the program could make.

It would take a lot of faith from the Oklahoma administration to be able to promote Grinch as the next head coach. While Grinch has certainly elevated the Sooners defense since he took over as the defensive coordinator in 2019, he hasn’t taken them to the heights that would make him an obvious head coaching candidate at a blue blood program.

Oklahoma is allowing just over 25 points per game this season, and around 383 total yards (5.7 yards per play). That does rank the Sooners at No. 58 in the FBS in terms of points allowed per game and in the top 60 in total yards allowed per game.

But that’s not something that is going to leap off the page at you. And with the offensive juggernaut that Riley built as both the Oklahoma head coach and the offensive coordinator, it’s hard to imagine the fans and/or administration wanting to promote a defensive coordinator to this top role.

Grinch has to be a consideration here you would think. To say that he wouldn’t be among the first five coaching candidates to consider here would probably be a lie. But this still seems like a tough sell for Grinch as the next Oklahoma head coach to replace Riley.