Ex Rutgers Coach Ash to be hired as Defensive Coordinator for Texas

Ex Rutgers Coach Ash to be hired as Defensive Coordinator for Texas

The former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash was hired by Texas to become its defensive coordinator Tuesday as Tom Herman rebuilds his staff following a 7-5 regular season that fell well short of expectations.

Ash was fired at Rutgers this season. He was the defensive co-coordinator at Ohio State in 2014. At that time, the Buckeyes won the national championship and Herman was offensive coordinator.

Herman said he had witnessed firsthand Chris’ skills as a game planner, his attention to detail and ability to develop players. He got the best out of all of them and had a history of building physical, fundamentally sound, winning defenses. He had done it at the highest level, was a tremendous all-around coach and an awesome person.

Ash will join the Texas staff on Wednesday, however, he will not help coach the Longhorns in the Dec. 31 Alamo Bowl against Utah.

The defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and demoted offensive coordinator Tim Beck were both fired by Herman on Dec. 1. The Longhorns ranked near the bottom nationally in a few major defensive categories this season. Then Texas fell back into the middle of the pack in the Big 12 a year after winning 10 games.

Before stint with Herman at Ohio State, Ash was a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Arkansas. 8-32 was his record as head coach at Rutgers. Then he was dismissed just a few games into the 2019 season.

Also, both Herman and Ash worked together as assistants at Iowa State in 2009.