Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 MARCH 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE D uring a spring practice in 2014, Ohio State safety Ty v i s Powe l l a n d n ew co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash were in a spat. That wasn't a rare event, as Pow- ell recalled in an interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated with a laugh. This time, they were argu- ing about what the safety should do when the tight end blocks down. Powell wanted to squeeze down to where the running back might go, but Ash insisted he should trigger in a straight line toward the line of scrimmage because the tight end might head out on a route. Powell thought Ash was nuts for expecting him to react that quickly and take the tight end in that situa- tion. Ash insisted if he just did what he was told, the tight end would run right into him. After some back-and-forth, Powell had enough. " I s a i d , ' Yo u k n ow what? Guess what I'm gonna do,'" Powell said. "'I'm gonna do exactly what you say, because when it's wrong, I want you to know that your stuff don't work.'" Powell did it Ash's way, and sure enough, the tight end ran right into him. His 2014-15 season ended with a Col- lege Football Playoff national champi- onship Defensive MVP award and a ring on his finger. He learned to listen to Ash from that point on. "We had multiple battles like that, where I thought I knew what I was talking about and he thought he knew what he was talking about," Powell said. "Some- how, some way, he ended up winning." Ash is Notre Dame's next defensive coordinator, replacing Al Golden. After leaving an indelible mark on the pro- gram and creating one of college foot- ball's best defenses, Golden took the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals. Ash's résumé is somewhat similar to Golden's. Both had success as defen- sive coordinators. Both struggled as college head coaches, with Ash going 8-32 in three-plus seasons at Rutgers. Both came to Notre Dame from the NFL; Ash spent the past four years as a de- fensive backs coach and scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2021, '24) and Las Vegas Raiders (2022-23). Golden built the foundation. It's now up to Ash and his uncompromising style to enhance it. "I think they're going to gravitate toward that," former Ohio State line- backer Joshua Perry said. "The guys who understand what the standard is for the Notre Dame defense are going to love Chris Ash." RUFFLING FEATHERS Doran Grant was a senior and a re- turning starter at cornerback when Ash first became his coach. And yet, Ash told him he would get cut if he kept practicing the way he was. The co-defensive coordinator said the way Grant played press coverage was unacceptable, and that players who practiced like that in the NFL got cut. Grant thought, "OK, I never heard it like that." He practiced pretty well the rest of that spring. "He tells you what you need to know, not what you want to hear," Grant, now the head coach at Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary, said. "That's crucial for kids between 18 and 22 years old. You gotta hear the truth." Grant said Ash was exactly what he needed to prepare for the next level. That was the prevailing sentiment: Ash will ruffle feathers at first, but the players will come to love him. "Coach Ash was a guy who I thought was an A-hole, and him and I clashed a lot because I'm an A-hole," Powell said. "Him and I got into it a lot, but he was a really great coach for me." Ash is incredibly specific with what he wants out of his players, particularly in the second and third levels. Perry recalls the details of his zone drops being a sticking point for him, and then some. "I literally remember him looking at a line- backer who was lined up half a yard from where they needed to be, and he's like, 'This isn't good enough,'" Perry said. "He was coaching the safeties, and those guys would catch hell constantly to be on top of their alignment and their drops. "I think those guys will walk in there and be like, 'This dude is so anal about everything that we're doing.' But once you get on the practice field … you'll be like, 'All right, this guy knows the details of what puts a great defense on the field.'" Powell explained that Ash taught him to see the game in a different way. One time that first spring, Ash told him to look at the running back. Confused, he said he was looking at the wide receivers to try to learn what they were about to do. Ash said they were only half the picture. It's little details like that, Powell said, that made a significant impact on his career. They sped up his thought pro- cess as a safety, to the point where he could consistently make one read, trig- ger and play downhill. "He'll really make you a better player," Powell said. "He'll just make your reac- tion time so much better. He'll simplify NO NONSENSE New defensive coordinator Chris Ash gets his message across with a blunt style Ash, who won a national title at Ohio State in 2014 as co-defensive coordinator and was the head coach at Rutgers from 2016-19, spent the past four seasons in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2021, '24) and Las Vegas Raiders (2022-23). PHOTO COURTESY RUTGERS ATHLETICS