The road less traveled
With Al Golden’s departure to the NFL to take over the Cincinnati Bengals defense, Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish put together a coaching search to fill its vacant defensive coordinator position. That search ultimately led to Chris Ash, and according to Pete Thamel — he will be Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator.
Sources: Chris Ash has accepted the job as the Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator. Ash brings a blend of coordinating experience, NFL experience and high-end results as a collegiate coordinator. A deal is expected to be finalized in the near future. pic.twitter.com/1qOjdpb6jf
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 29, 2025
Almost as soon as we found out about Al Golden’s departure, Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was brought up as a possible replacement. It was reported that the Irish were willing to pay up to $3 million for Knowles to come to South Bend, but ultimately, he left Columbus for the DC job with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
While a couple of other names surfaced, once it was reported that the Irish were looking at Chris Ash, his name seemingly rose to the top of Marcus Freeman’s list with some help from the outside counsel of Jim Tressell and Luke Fickell.
Ash was the co-defensive coordinator for Ohio State in 2014 when they won the national championship in the first year of the 4-team playoff. Before Ohio State, he served as the defensive coordinator for the Arkanasas Razorbacks and Wisconsin Badgers. He was hired as the Rutgers head coach in 2016, but was let go in 2019 after three very poor years. The last job Ash had in college was with the Texas Longhorns as their defensive coordinator in 2020.
There’s been a lot said around the internet about a possible culture clash in the future between Ash and Notre Dame as some believe his personality and coaching style aren’t the best fit. I spoke to several sources that believe those concerns to be very exaggerated and unfounded. Those same sources praised Ash’s football IQ and believe he will help the Irish maintain their position as one of the best defenses in all of college football.
Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens has long been someone that many believed would take over at DC at some point. While he wasn’t hired this round, it’s reported that he will get a title bump, extra duties, and a raise for this upcoming year to stay with the Irish.
Al Golden left some big shoes to fill, and although many great players return to Notre Dame this season, Ash will still have to find ways to replace guys like Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross, Rylie Mills, Jack Kiser, and Xavier Watts.
Spring football got a bit more interesting today. Welcome to Notre Dame Chris Ash.