Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2025 21 BY TYLER JAMES N otre Dame defensive coordina- tor Chris Ash didn't get to hire any assistant coaches when he joined the Fighting Irish pro- gram in February. That's a rare situation, but it's the product of inheriting three assistant coaches — defensive line coach Al Washington, linebackers coach Max Bullough and defensive backs coach Mike Mickens — who had success under former coordinator Al Golden, who left in January to take the same job with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals. Ash also inherited a lot of returning talent on a defense that finished last season tied for fourth in the FBS in scoring defense (15.5 points allowed per game) and 11th in total defense (307.4 yards allowed per game). The first months of Ash's tenure were spent learning about Notre Dame's pre- vious scheme, how it was coached and communicated, and the players who will be asked to bring Ash's version to life. Ash has made it clear that he doesn't view the defense as a broken one, so he's not looking to fix and overhaul it. But that doesn't mean the ceiling has been reached. "We're going to try to make it better," Ash said. "We're trying to elevate it, and that's the challenge because it's already performed at a really high level. But if you're afraid of the challenge, don't come here. There's standards, there's expectations, there's great coaches, there's great players, and we embrace that, and that's what we want." Notre Dame opened its preseason training camp July 31, one month be- fore the Irish will play at Miami in their season opener. These are the objectives Ash and the coaching staff need to ad- dress before the defense will be put to the test: 1. Flatten The Learning Curve There will be hiccups with Notre Dame's defense. That's a near certainty. It's unlikely that Ash can transition so seamlessly that Notre Dame's defense will immediately start the season playing as well as it did for much of last season. There will be lessons to learn from a coaching and playing perspective when the games begin. Ash can try to mitigate those mistakes by making sure everyone is on the same page. That starts with Ash understanding what his assis- tant coaches and analysts are teaching their players, and Ash making sure that aligns with what he wants. Because Ash doesn't have a position group respon- sibility, he can float between positions throughout practice, meetings and film sessions. "He's going to run our defense similar to how he wants to do it in terms of what he feels it takes to have success," head coach Marcus Freeman said. "Part of doing that, you have to become a great teammate. You can't do this thing alone. I don't care if you're a player or a coach. You can't do it alone. "What he's done is he dove in and gained the trust of the people that he works with. Now those coaches can implement the vision to the players. It starts from the top. He's done a great job of that. I'm excited for what our defensive staff and our defensive unit are going to do." For Ash's defense to hit the ground running, he may have to sacrifice complicated wrinkles in scheme to make sure he's not making it too com- plicated for the talent on the field to shine. "This is the Notre Dame defense, and there's a certain play style," Ash said. "That's the only thing REACHING THE CEILING Five fall camp objectives new defensive coordinator Chris Ash will address in an effort to raise the bar for a unit that experienced a lot of success the past two years Ash doesn't need to overhaul a successful scheme in his first season. He inherits a unit that tied for fourth in the FBS in scoring defense (15.5 points allowed per game) and 11th in total defense (307.4 yards allowed per game) last year. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER