Grinch to make $1.4 million as new OU DC

You want to fix the Oklahoma defense, then you were going to have to be ready to break out the big bucks. The Sooners have done just that.

New defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is going to make $1.4 million per year with a three-year contract that runs through January 2022, as announced by the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents on Wednesday afternoon.

Grinch made more than $1.1 million last year at Ohio State and becomes the highest paid assistant ever in OU history. He is also the first Sooners defensive assistant coach to top the $1 million mark.

“There's always going to be outliers and you can't always look at everything in an apples-to-apples comparison, but we try to do things that hopefully put both our head coach and the assistant coaches salary pool in a place that will always be competitive and commensurate with the kind of success that we aspire to have,” athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “Not just what we've achieved so far but what we aspire to have.

“As coach Riley and I had those conversations over an extended period of time and on multiple occasions, we were mostly focused on finding the best person for us. And we understood that it was going to be somebody that was already at a point in their profession that we had to make it attractive for them to come here. As he moved through the various possibilities, candidates if you will, we wanted to make sure we were in a position to hire the right person.”

Grinch wasn’t the only new hire confirmed. Inside linebackers coach Brian Odom and cornerbacks coach Roy Manning were also approved by the Board.

Odom has a one-year deal, paying him $375,000, a $135,000 raise from what he was making at Missouri. Manning has a two-year deal at $425,000 per year.

The other big winner Wednesday is offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. After his group won the Joe Moore Award for best offensive line in the country, you knew it would be a good day.

Bedenbaugh is going from $625,000 per year to now $750,000, for a deal that ends in January 2021. The news was also good for outside receivers coach Dennis Simmons, who was bumped up to $460,000, that ends in 2021. A $60,000 raise.

Defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux received the biggest boost defensively, now making $375,000 through January 2020. A $55,000 raise.

Here is the breakdown of all OU assistant coaches.

Shane Beamer ($435,000 to $470,000 – 2021)

Bill Bedenbaugh ($625,000 to $750,000 – 2021)

Jay Boulware ($435,000 to $470,000 – 2021)

Alex Grinch ($1.4 million – 2022)

Cale Gundy ($500,000 to $535,000 – 2021)

Roy Manning ($425,000 – 2021)

Ruffin McNeill ($570,000 to $575,000 – 2020)

Brian Odom ($375,000 – 2020)

Dennis Simmons ($400,000 to $460,000 – 2021)

Calvin Thibodeaux ($320,000 to $375,000 – 2020)

Bennie Wylie ($350,000 to $380,000 – 2021)