Greg McElroy breaks down how Al Golden departure, Chris Ash hire impact Notre Dame

ESPN’s Greg McElroy broke down how Al Golden’s departure could be filled in seamlessly by Chris Ash at Notre Dame.

Ash, the former Rutgers head coach, was recently hired by the Fighting Irish as the new DC. He spent the last few years in the NFL in a variety of assistant coaching roles.

Replacing Golden and his defensive scheme won’t be easy, but Ash was the easy choice according to McElroy.

“Al Golden, the defense coordinator, was there for three years, did an amazing job,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “He now gets hired by the Cincinnati Bengals. And Al Golden, they would not have competed for the national championship last year if it wasn’t for the coaching that (he) brought to that team. He was amazing … So replacing him was going to be very difficult. But what can you do is go and try to find a guy that has a comparable path to Notre Dame as Al Golden. That’s Chris Ash.” 

Ash was the head coach at Rutgers from 2016-2019, putting together an 8-32 overall record (including a 3-26 mark in the Big Ten) before he was fired. Ash then spent a year at Texas as defensive coordinator before heading to the NFL.

Ash spent 2021 as the safeties coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Urban Meyer‘s staff, before moving to the Las Vegas Raiders as defensive backs coach in 2022.

Ash has had several previous stints in college, including at Arkansas, Iowa State, Ohio State, Texas and Wisconsin. His coaching career began at Drake in 1997, when he served as a graduate assistant for a year before earning a promotion to defensive coordinator.

Chris Ash seems to be right choice for Notre Dame, per Greg McElroy

From there, Ash went to Iowa State, where he spent two years as a graduate assistant. He took over as full-time defensive backs coach from 2002-05, then added the title of recruiting coordinator in 2006.

Ash then spent two years at San Diego State (2007-08), bounced back to Iowa State (2009) for a year and finally ended up at Wisconsin (2010) as defensive backs coach. After a year with the Badgers he added defensive coordinator duties.

In 2013, Ash left for Arkansas as defensive coordinator. He would then link up with Meyer at Ohio State in 2014, winning a national title as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. He spent just two years in Columbus before earning the Rutgers head coaching gig.

“Now, not exactly the exact same experience,” McElroy said. “Al Golden was a multiple time head coach, then he went to the NFL, and then he landed at Notre Dame. Now Chris Ash has not been that at least multiple times, but he has spent the last four seasons in the NFL. He was with Jacksonville and Las Vegas. He was a scout for the Raiders as well. So he’s been in the player personnel angle as well. He also has spent a lot of time at the college level, where he’s had tons of success at Ohio State, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Texas. 

“Now there have been some moments where maybe it wasn’t as good, but he was the co-coordinator of the national championship team for Urban Meyer back in 2014 so I like this a lot, because it feels like Chris Ash is very comparable to Al Golden. He’s thoughtful, he’s been around the NFL. He’s going to implement NFL style to their defense. And I think he’s a guy that will blend really well with the culture that’s already been created.”