Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame fill defensive coordinator position by hiring former NFL coach 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish made the National Championship Game but lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Their defensive coordinator, Al Golden, was subsequently plucked by the Cincinnati Bengals in the same role and left the program searching for a new defensive coordinator to fill the position.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that coach Marcus Freeman has found the person who will do just that as veteran defensive coordinator Chris Ash will be joining the Fighting Irish for the 2025 college football season.

Notre Dame was able to be one of the top defenses in all of college football as it tied for fourth in the NCAA with 15.5 points per game allowed. Adding an experienced defensive coordinator will help the team continue to be a defensive-minded program.

It will be interesting to see how Chris Ash does with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish going forward as their new defensive coordinator.

What has Chris Ash done before joining Notre Dame's staff?

Ash has been a coach since 1997 and has been in almost every role imaginable. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Drake Bulldogs in 1997 and stayed with the program before leaving for the same role with the Iowa State Cyclones for the 2000 season.

He would spend the 2000 and 2001 seasons as a graduate assistant and would spend the next five seasons as the defensive backs coach. In 2006, he also became their recruiting coordinator. Ash would leave for the San Diego State Aztecs in the same role and spend the 2007-08 seasons before returning to Iowa State in the same role.

Chris Ash took a step forward as he joined the Wisconsin Badgers for the 2010 season as the defensive backs coach and would become the defensive coordinator the following year as well as the 2012 season. He would leave to become the defensive coordinator & defensive backs coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks for the 2013 season.

Ash joined the Ohio State Buckeyes ahead of the 2014 season and was the co-defensive coordinator as well as the safeties coach for two seasons before getting his biggest break. In 2016, he was named the head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and would do so for four years before being fired in Sept. 2019. He spent the remainder of that season as an analyst for the Texas Longhorns.

He would stay with the Longhorns for the 2020 season as the defensive coordinator before leaving college football altogether. He then joined the pros as he was hired under Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer for the 2021 season and was the defensive backs and safeties coach for the franchise.

Chris Ash stayed in the NFL and became the defensive backs coach of the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2022 and 2023 seasons under coach Josh McDaniels. When Antonio Pierce officially took over, he did not retain Ash and instead, he spent his first year off the sidelines as a scout for the Jaguars throughout last season.

What do you think of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish bringing in Chris Ash as their new defensive coordinator? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.