'The type of man he is': How Al Washington already won before national title kickoff between Notre Dame, Ohio State

ATLANTA — Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington remembers the exact hash where it happened. Won’t ever forget it. 

Far side of the field from where he was standing inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. One-on-one pass-rushing drill, ‘backers vs. blockers. Third day of spring ball, 2021. First day of a journey Ohio State linebacker Mitchell Melton never knew would have him sleeping under the roof of his position coach’s house for a week. 

When Melton crumpled to the turf at the Woody in what Washington called “just a freak thing,” Washington, Ohio State’s linebackers coach at the time, picked him up and took him in. Literally. Melton lived at Washington’s home for a week in the infant stages of recovering from knee surgery.

Washington. His wife Melissa. His son Michael Anthony. His daughter Audrey. 

Melton.

“You don’t think twice about it,” Washington told Blue & Gold. “I love him. He’s like family.” 

Washington, a Columbus native, loves Ohio State, his national championship game opponent Monday night. Buckeyes are his family. No hyperbole; his father, Al Sr., was an Ohio State linebacker from 1977-80. His wife graduated from OSU, as did his sister and brother-in-law. His mom still lives in Columbus. For so long, everything in his life came up scarlet and silver. It’s who he was, and, to a degree, who he still is. 

That changed when he went to Boston College to play defensive tackle from 2002-05. 

When you leave home, which Columbus will always be to Washington, you gain a new perspective. It becomes less about where you’re at and more about who’s there with you. Then you take that approach back to your roots and make home more homey than it was before. 

That’s what Washington did as OSU’s ‘backers coach from 2019-21. 

There are a lot of upstanding coaches in college football. How many open their doors to a player for seven critical, impressionable days to get him on his feet — again, literally? Washington makes at least one. And he’d have done it at Ohio State, Boston College, Notre Dame — anywhere. 

It was about Melton and Melton’s livelihood. Not a logo. 

“Looking back on it right now in this moment, it was really important that he did that to make it feel like I wasn’t alone in that process,” Melton told Blue & Gold. “I’m really appreciative of that, for sure.” 

“It wasn’t helping Mitch,” Washington added. “It was being a coach. A mentor. I don’t look at it like helping. He was going through a tough time? Hey, I’m here. It’s what you do.”

Passion And Energy 

Ohio State let Washington go at the end of the 2021 season. If he had it his way, he’d have been an assistant there for much longer. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to do what he loves in the place he was brought up in.

He moved on quickly when Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman hired him soon after his dismissal by Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. 

“It was tough, but it’s the business,” Washington said. “Home is always going to be there. That’s part of the business. I try not to worry about things I can’t control. I’m thankful for that time, but nothing is permanent. I’ve been around long enough to understand that.” 

Washington previously worked with Day at Boston College from 2012-14 and with Freeman at Cincinnati in 2017. Sure, the Buckeyes didn’t move forward with Washington upon changing regimes to a new defensive coordinator ahead of the 2022 season, but Day wouldn’t have hired Washington as linebackers coach in his first full season as Ohio State’s head coach if he didn’t look back on the BC years fondly. 

It was 2013. Day was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator. He brought Washington, an assistant special teams and defensive line coach, to a Dunkin’ Donuts to offer up a peculiar promotion.  

“I sort of talked him into becoming the running backs coach, and he said, ‘I don’t know anything about coaching running backs,’” Day said. “I said, ‘Well, we’re going to sit down and figure it out. The first thing you’ve got to do is take care of the football and run vertical.’ He said, ‘All right, I can figure that out.’”

Boston College’s Andre Williams won the Doak Walker Award as the top running back in college football in Washington’s first year as a running backs coach. 

“It just went to show you that it didn’t really have anything to do with the position; it was his ability to motivate players, his passion for recruiting, his energy,” Day said. 

Those are the reasons Freeman scooped Washington up quickly off the coaching carousel. He called Washington a “tremendous asset” to the Notre Dame staff. 

“I know the type of man he is but also the type of coach he is,” Freeman said. “He is a developer of young people.” 

Dunk On ‘Em

Washington sent Notre Dame defensive tackle Rylie Mills a documentary about Shaquille O’Neal before his senior season. Hm? What’s a retired NBA legend got to do with a collegiate football player with professional aspirations not yet realized? 

It wasn’t random. Rather, purposeful. 

“The big message was, ‘Hey, Shaq would always try to go around people. And his dad was like, ‘What the hell are you doing? Just dunk on ‘em,’” Mills told Blue & Gold. “That was something he told me. There were clips where I was bull-rushing people 20 yards back. He sent me that clip, and any time I go around someone or try to do a certain move, he’s like, ‘Hey, dunk on ‘em.’”

Mills credits Washington with setting the foundation for the back half of his career. In the first half, he was caught between being a defensive end and a tackle. A little directionless. Washington gave him direction. 

He’s done so for dozens of dudes in the last handful of years, Ohio State to Notre Dame. Buckeyes linebacker Cody Simon said Washington was the first coach who instilled in him the idea and ultimate reality of becoming a Buckeyes team captain. 

“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Simon said. “He changed my mentality about football. I’m so thankful to have been coached by him. I know they appreciate him as much as I did because he’s more than a coach. He’s a great man, husband and father. It goes beyond football for me.”

For Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamka, it was Washington instilling in him the confidence necessary to make a position change from linebacker to Vyper, Notre Dame’s moniker for the rush end position, in the middle of his freshman season. 

That’s not an easy swap as an unseasoned first-year pupil. Washington made it seamless. Tuihalamaka has since emerged into one of Notre Dame’s top pass-rushing playmakers during the Irish’s run to the national championship game. 

“I had little to no knowledge about edge rushing or anything, but the fact that he had belief in me to be where I’m at right now, it means so much to me,” Tuihalamaka said. 

One Percent Better

Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis only coached with Washington for one season when he was a graduate assistant at Notre Dame in 2022. One season was long enough for his favorite memory with him, one that “singes” his brain, to be not fit for sharing in a publication such as this. 

“Leave that to the imagination,” Laurinaitis told Blue & Gold. 

What can he say about Washington? A lot. 

“I love Al,” he said. “He’s a great guy. Very passionate. Cares a ton about his players. Cares a ton about his players. Would go to bat for them. Cares about them as men.”

Notre Dame sophomore defensive tackle Armel Mukam said Washington’s teachings are often things he sees from NFL players. What Mukam studies on film from Fighting Irish practices mirrors what he takes away from turning on the TV to watch ball on Sundays. 

Notre Dame freshman defensive tackle Sean Sevillano grasps the same sense of functionality from Washington’s guidance. 

“He’s very good at walking us through details of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Sevillano said. 

But as Simon and Laurinaitis said, Washington’s influence goes way beyond ball. Sevillano clings to weekend fishing trips and cookouts in Washington’s backyard. Such gatherings were frequent in Columbus, too. Those moments are so memorable because Washington makes them so. Every endeavor is treated with unmeasurable fervor, be it catching a fish or teaching tackling technique. 

Why? He cares. About everything and everyone. Caring is the first word Melton used to describe his old landlord. That, followed by generous and intense. The combination of everything Washington is equates to someone unforgettable. 

“He told me this once and it’s always stuck with me — ‘Every day, day by day, I want to get better and better,’” Ohio State linebacker C.J. Hicks said. “No matter what it is — football, life, school — always being one percent better and building off that the next day.” 

Wise words to live by. Washington is full of them.

“Nothing is guaranteed, man, but I live in the moment,” Washington said. “And I know this — as long as the good Lord allows me to be here, we’re going to grind to maximize and attack every moment we have.”