A large portion of Washington State's success on the football field in 2015 was due in part to the revamped defensive unit, under first-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.
Prior to the start of the season, there were plenty of question marks about how Grinch could necessitate change for the Cougars defensively when other, more attractive defensive coordinators were available to sign.
You know the rest of the story: The Cougars defense got better - not great by a long shot - but a lot better. After just forcing eight takeaways in 2014, the 2015 team came away with 24 which ranked them 34th nationally in that category.