Chris Ash transcript: New defensive coordinator explains vision for Notre Dame defense

Notre Dame formally introduced Chris Ash as its defensive coordinator Wednesday afternoon, and he took questions from local reporters.

Here’s everything Ash said about his defensive philosophy, Notre Dame’s existing personnel, his vision for the defense and more.

On his general defensive approach at Notre Dame

“Just overall, philosophically, as we approach this situation here, I look at it: If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And that was really the conversation that Coach Freeman and I had about this situation. There has been really good football played on defense. There’s been standards. There’s been accountability. They’ve been well-coached. Conceptually, we’re gonna keep doing a lot of the same things that have been done here. Terminology may change a little bit. Some fundamentals may change a little bit, but at the end of the day, the way Notre Dame has played defense is the way Notre Dame is gonna play defense in the future.”

On his philosophy regarding Notre Dame’s players adapting to him and vice versa

“I’m here to become one of them. They’re not here to adjust to me. I’m here to adjust to them. The staff, the players, the scheme, the whole overall culture of the organization. That’s what I’m coming to be a part of. This is Notre Dame’s defense. This is not my defense. This is Notre Dame’s, and I’m coming here to try to help continue the success that they’ve had on defense and find ways to try to make it better. That’s it.”

On what he learned in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars that he can apply to Notre Dame

“It’s all about the players. It’s players first. Players over plays and concepts over calls. And that’s really the way we’re approaching it right now, and trying to make sure that what we do and what we ask the players to do is in the best interest of the player and allows them to be successful, and really do a great job of teaching concepts to help them understand the big picture of what we’re trying to do. And you can really create a position-less defense when you do it that way. And that’s kind of what it is. Some of the things that people talk about in college, they still apply to the NFL. It’s about relationships. It’s about communication. It’s about trust. And if you have those things, whether you’re in the NFL or in college, you have a chance to be successful.”

On how his defense will evolve with a sport that’s changed since he last coached in college

“Well, like I said before, this isn’t about my defense. This is about the Notre Dame defense, and we’re gonna continue to do things that Notre Dame has done on defense. The game is different than the NFL and what I’ve been doing for the last few years, but again, I haven’t been out of it for too long. The hashes make the game different, and the space that’s created because of the hashes. In everything you do, you gotta make sure that you can eliminate that space and play the RPOs and the release and things that offenses have. But again, it’s not my defense that we’re gonna be running. It’s our defense, and that’s the way that I look at it. I’m coming to be a part of this organization and this defense and this staff.”

On what made now the right time to come back to college

“It’s a great question. I really enjoyed what I was doing. I was actually in personnel this last year in Jacksonville. I enjoyed that. It was a great learning opportunity. Wasn’t looking for another job. Coach Freeman called and we started to have some initial conversations. And I looked at the whole thing: It’s Notre Dame. The type of people that come to Notre Dame, players, staff. Obviously the recent success, the opportunity for sustained success in the future. All of those things together made this a no-brainer for me. It was gonna take a lot to leave where we were at, but this was one of those jobs that you just can’t pass up on.”

On being one of the first at Ohio State to teach the rugby-style tackle

“Yeah, it’s just the way that tackles were being made already in the game. So we just went through, years ago, just a self-evaluation of how we coach tackling. And looked at our drills and looked at what was actually happening in games with players, and players were tackling a certain way. And it was also around player safety, trying to remove the head out of the game and the contact, minimize the amount of contact a player has. That’s really how it all originated. It’s just really the way the players play the game anyway, so we just tried to retool what we did and how we coached it and how we drilled it to mimic what was happening already on the game film.”

On how different recruiting is from the last time coached in college

“Boy, we don’t have all day. It’s completely different. And I’m running, I’m scrambling, I’m really just picking up bits and pieces about NIL, the transfer portal, all of those things and how it’s different, how it’s changed. And there’s a lot of good things around it as well. I’m learning every single day, every recruiting meeting that we have, the meetings I have with the recruiting staff. Just trying to ask questions, gather information and see how it operates, how everybody operates and what is truly different about it today than it was four years ago when I was doing it.”

On his positional responsibilities, as well as working with Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens

“I’m gonna walk around and be able to observe all coaches and all positions. Talking about Coach Mickens, he doesn’t need my help. He’s a great coach, great person. He’s done a tremendous job here coaching the secondary. I’ve known Mike for a long time, and he does a great job for the players.”

On putting his own stamp on Notre Dame’s defensive rotations and personnel

“Yeah, it’s not my stamp, it’s what players have earned the right to do. If players have earned the right to play, it’s our job to find a way to get them to play, whether it’s a rotation, a personnel package, whatever it may be. We want the players, the good players, to stay here in our program. Good players want to do what? They want to play. So it’s our job to find ways to allow them to play. We’re gonna play our best players, but we also want to understand that rotations are important, personnel packages are important. Giving them the opportunity to go out and impact the game, that’s really what we want to do.”

On Notre Dame potentially being similar to the aggressive 4-3 defense he’s run in the past

“Through my time as a coach, there are certain things that are important, and it is more about play style than anything else. I don’t care if it’s 4-3, 3-4, 5-2 — I don’t really care about any of that stuff. It’s about the play style. We want to play fast, we want to play violent, we want to be physical, we want to win at the point of attack. That’s all that it’s about. We want to play with energy and enthusiasm. We’re gonna coach, teach and we’re gonna practice that way, and hopefully we’ll play that way too.

“So whatever videos you saw, I don’t know what years those would be. I probably have a little more gray hair right now than I did back then, and probably a little bit more right here [points to gut]. But hopefully the play style comes to light. It’s really not gonna be hard for me, because that’s the way this defense has played. We’re going to try to continue that.”

On the challenges Notre Dame will face this season on its defensive line

“You know, I haven’t been here long enough to be able to answer that question. I really have only been able to watch guys work out a couple times. I’ve watched film. I think we have an outstanding defensive line. How deep it is, I don’t know. The biggest challenge is to keep the good players healthy. Interior, we want to make sure we have enough guys that we can rotate. But right now, based on what I watched on film and my evaluation, we have a chance to have an outstanding defensive line. We just gotta keep them healthy, gotta get some guys healthy. It’s gonna take me some more time before I give you an honest answer to that questions.”

On Notre Dame defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio

“I don’t know if I’ve looked at [his film] closely, but I have watched his reps from last year. I met with every single player when I first got here. Before I met with them, I watched clips on all of them. I wasn’t able to watch all of [the clips], because there’s some players who played a lot of snaps. But he’s a good player. He’s a big body. He’s violent. He does a great job with his hands. There’s some things that we’ll continue to try to develop within his game, but we’re happy to have him.”

On who from Notre Dame’s defensive personnel stands out on tape

“Yeah, pretty much everyone I watched. There’s some good players. I know this: Everywhere I’ve been I had good players, I’ve been a really good coach. So when I was asked about why Notre Dame, well, it starts with the players. There are good players in this program. They’ve done a great job of recruiting and developing. We’ve lost some good players off of last year’s defense, but there are a lot of good ones back, a lot of guys that played significant snaps. So, I’m fired up about working with all of them. There’s a lot of traits that they have, skill sets, the mentality, the way they approach their work. That really excites me and fires me up about being here.”

On if he’s monitored the college game while he’s been away

“Yeah, when you’re somewhere else, you’re always gonna keep an eye on things that are done at a different level. No different than when I was in college, I watched NFL film. When I’m in the NFL, I watched college film, because a lot of the college game is starting to filter up offensively, especially into the NFL, because of the quarterbacks and the space game and spreading people out. I kind of watched as much as I could with college film, and you study people that are doing good things. Whether you necessarily have done them or agree with them, whatever, you study people who have had success.”

On how his experience as a head coach impacted the way he operates now, and if his HC experience was a factor in Marcus Freeman hiring him at Notre Dame

“You’d have to ask Marcus that, to be honest with you. We never really discussed that a whole lot. I do think my experience as a head coach has made me a better assistant coach. I understand, really, what the head coach wants, and how to help the head coach with the problems with my players or my side of the ball, keeping those issues off the head coach’s desk. You’d have to ask Marcus about that, but I do think those past experiences have helped me become a better assistant coach.”

On his relationship with Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph

“Yeah, Rudy and I worked together at Wisconsin. Always had a ton of respect for the way he goes about his business and the type of person he is. And I knew he was here. I knew that he really enjoyed it here, he enjoyed the people, enjoyed the area, the players, the way Coach Freeman runs the organization. But I did not personally, in this process, have any conversations with him. Honestly, when I went through this process, I was really excited that Coach Freeman called me and had trust and belief and faith that I could come here and lead the defense.

“But when I came to campus and the people that I met with, I could there there was absolute alignment from the top. From Fr. Bob [Dowd], all the way down. And it was everybody. Everything was first class, everything was first class. Everybody was great, professional, like this is the type of place I want to be a part of. So I didn’t need to talk to anybody else. I made that decision on my own, and it really was because of the people and the alignment that I saw here. Everybody wants this place to be great, not only academically, but athletically. It was an easy choice for me.”

On whether he’ll call games from the field or the booth

“I’ve been both, up and down. Really gotta take some time to evaluate the staff and see where the pieces fit together. We’re really loaded up on the back end on defense, with DB coaches. We’ll put it all together as we go. I haven’t really had a lot of thoughts about that yet, but I’ve done both. We’ll just see where it goes after spring and maybe a training camp a little bit, too.”