Notre Dame to hire former Big Ten head coach, NFL assistant as next defensive coordinator | Reports

Al Golden came to Notre Dame as a defensive coordinator with prior head coaching and NFL experience. The Irish got a similar resume to replace him.

Chris Ash has accepted an offer to be Notre Dame’s next defensive coordinator, according to multiple reports.

Ash was most recently a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but spent time coaching defensive backs for the Jaguars and safeties for the Las Vegas Raiders, too.

At the college level, Ash has been a defensive coordinator for Texas, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Ohio State.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Ash was an attractive candidate because of how his NFL and college experience blended together with impressive results coming from each stop.

Ash will take over a Notre Dame defense that was elite on a national championship run even after it lost multiple starters due to injury.

As a college defensive coordinator, Ash has coached four top-25 defenses. He had a hand in developing future NFL players like Joey Bosa, Marshon Lattimore and Denzel Ward when he was at Ohio State, and was the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator when OSU won the 2024 national championship.

Ash was the head coach at Rutgers from 2016 to 2019,

Notre Dame’s staff includes the likes of defensive line coach and run game coordinator Al Washington, defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Mike Mickens and linebackers coach Max Bullough. It remains to be seen if Mickens, who was rumored to be elevated to the defensive coordinator role, might earn a co-defensive coordinator title to go along with his role coaching the Irish’s defensive backs.

Ash, who also specializes in coaching defensive backs, will have All-American freshman Leonard Moore, Christian Gray and Adon Shuler returning in the defensive secondary. New to the secondary in 2025 will be incoming Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith and three four-star…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-hire-former-big-210636832.html

Author : WFLD

Publish date : 2025-01-29 21:06:00

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