Livescore
Notre Dame is set to hire Chris Ash as its defensive coordinator, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports. The former Rutgers coach replaces Al Golden, who departed his post to take the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.
Ash rose to prominence as defensive coordinator at Ohio State under Urban Meyer in 2014, and helped lead the program to a national championship. He went on to lead Rutgers for four seasons, but was fired after he posted an 8-32 record that included three winless conference campaigns in four seasons.
He later worked as defensive coordinator under Tom Herman at Texas in 2020 before departing for the NFL. Ash coached various secondary roles before spending the 2024 season in a personnel role with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ash has also worked as a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Arkansas, as well as recruiting coordinator at Iowa State.
Ash joins a Notre Dame squad fresh off a 14-2 season and appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship. The Fighting Irish became the first team to ever win two bowl games in the same season and set a program record for wins. The title game appearance was the first since 2012, but fell short in a 34-23 loss to Ohio State.
Ash’s trajectory was similar to that of Golden, who also departed for the NFL after an underwhelming head coaching stint at Miami. Golden spent six years in the NFL, but joined Marcus Freeman’s initial staff with the Fighting Irish. Under Golden, Notre Dame produced the No. 11 defense in college football, including the No. 1 opposing passer rating in the country. The success ultimately got the attention of the NFL.
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post