Notre Dame football entered the offseason with so much momentum, and is off to an unsettling start with their defensive coordinator search
When defensive coordinator Al Golden left to take the same position with the Cincinnati Bengals, most Notre Dame fans expected some good news on the horizon. With the momentum that head coach Marcus Freeman has built with the Fighting Irish program, including a program record 14 wins and a national title appearance this fall, surely […]
When defensive coordinator Al Golden left to take the same position with the Cincinnati Bengals, most Notre Dame fans expected some good news on the horizon. With the momentum that head coach Marcus Freeman has built with the Fighting Irish program, including a program record 14 wins and a national title appearance this fall, surely there would be a long list of interested and qualified coaches.
The early rumbles were also very positive. Notre Dame at least inquired about former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, and other names like Jim Leonhard and Joe Rossi (Michigan State DC) were mentioned to be high on the Notre Dame list. Each have very strong resumes to varying degrees, and would be tremendous hires in theory.
Then the wind was quickly taken out of the sails when Pete Sampson, a Notre Dame beat writer for The Athletic, put out a report that there was strong interest in former Ohio State defensive coordinator and Rutgers head coach Chris Ash. Several other outlets were able to verify this report, including myself.
I will take that report a step further. Barring something unforeseen, I expect Ash to be the next defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. It’s a risky hire by Coach Freeman, and honestly, one that is going to be hard to sell. For every good part of Ash’s resume, there are several parts that leave a lot to be desired.
Ash showed signs of tremendous coaching acumen under head coach Brett Bielema at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to two tremendous defensive seasons in 2011 and 2012. During the 2015 season with Ohio State, Ash also put together a tremendous year, a huge improvement from their national championship defense the season prior. Ash parlayed that success into a head coaching job with Rutgers, a period of his coaching career that he probably wants to forget.
There have also been a lot of underwhelming moments on top of his head coaching career with the Scarlet Knights. Ash spent a year as the defensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2013 under Bielema, and it was a season to forget. Ash also did a poor job at Texas in 2020, his most recent season as a defensive coordinator.
Since then, Ash has been a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders coaching in the secondary. Neither team had a ton of success while he was there. In total, Ash has been a part of 10 different colleges or organizations over the last 25 years. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not a good coach, the lack of stability is still something to monitor.
With the impending hire, some are attempting to make the parallels to Coach Golden in terms of an absence of coordinator experience recently and a failed head coaching tenure. When you really compare the two, that is a very lazy comparison. Outside of Golden’s stint as the Miami head coach, he has a stellar resume, and much better than what Ash currently boasts.
Coach Freeman has made a ton of great coaching hires over the years, but this potential one looks very questionable on paper. As always, we will let our opinions be changed depending on how things go. Let’s hope Freeman sees things that most can’t right now.
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