Chris Ash went out of his way to make a good first impression.

“Hi I’m Chris,” the new Notre Dame defensive coordinator said as he approached and shook hands with every member of the media. Ash arrived five minutes early for his introductory press conference.

“All softball questions right?” Ash joked.

Ash spent the last four seasons in various roles in the NFL, he was defensive coordinator at Texas for one season in 2020 following an unsuccessful four year stint as the head coach at Rutgers from 2016-2019. His most notable success came as co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2014 and 2015, helping the Buckeyes win a national title in ’14.

Not having spent too much time as a true defensive play caller, Ash was immediately asked what his defensive philosophy is and he immediately made it known this isn’t his defense.

“I look at like if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Ash explained of Notre Dame’s prolific success on defense the last few years. “The way Notre Dame has played defense is the way Notre Dame will play defense in the future.”

Ash said while some terminology may change, he will look to keep things the way they’ve been and that HE is the one that will have to adjust to the players and rest of the coaching staff, not the other way around.

“It’s not my defense that we will be running, it’s our defense,” Ash reiterated.

Emphasizing players over plays and concepts over calls are some of things Ash will bring with him from the NFL back to the college game. He believes relationships, communication and trust are the keys to success. He acknowledges a lot has changed since he was last coaching college in 2020.

“Boy we don’t have all day,” Ash says with a laugh, when asked to break down all that is different now. He’s learning every single day what has changed from NIL and transfer portal.

Ash also says he wasn’t exactly looking to leave the NFL and that Marcus Freeman reached out to him about the job and they began talking. Ash says it would take a lot for him to leave the NFL.

“This is Notre Dame,” Ash said, saying Notre Dame is one of those jobs that is worth leaving the NFL for.

Ash has a long history as a defensive backs coach but doesn’t plan on coaching the DBs directly but instead will ‘walk around’ amongst all the position groups like Al Golden did. Ash said current defensive backs coach Mike Mickens doesn’t need his help in coaching the defensive backs. Ash is still evaluating where he will position himself on gamedays between being in the booth or being on the field, explaining that he’s done both over the years.

While Ash is still evaluating each position and each player, one thing he made a point of doing was watch clips of each defensive player and then meet with them individually when he arrived.

Ash believes his 4 year experience as a head coach at Rutgers makes him a better assistant coach now because he knows what is on the plate of a head coach but that it did not really come up with Freeman on whether that was part of the decision to bring Ash in.

 Ja’Juan Seider Also Introduced

Notre Dame also introduced their new running backs and associate head coach Ja’Juan Seider on Tuesday. Seider arrives at Notre Dame after spending the last seven seasons at Penn State.

Seider was in an excellent position in State College with a fantastic running backs room returning next season.

“It was Notre Dame. It was Marcus Freeman,” Seider said when asked what made now the right time for him to leave Penn State.

He added that he first got to know Freeman 14 years ago thru former Irish offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, who coached with Seider at Penn State. Seider and Freeman have kept in touch over the years and Parker served as a middle man between him and Freeman. Seider says it was nice having someone like Parker to talk to who wasn’t trying to convince him one way or another but rather just giving him the information he needs to make the decision.

Seider, who was a quarterback at West Virginia, brings a quarterback mentality to the running backs room. Seider says one thing he likes to do with the running backs is explain to them what quarterbacks are looking at. He believes the RBs already have the talent but if they can understand the game at a higher level it will help them go even farther.

He also stressed the importance of not overloading running backs in this era to make sure they still have tread on the tires when they head to the NFL. He says that’s part of the recruiting pitch to players and their families in how he will look to protect the player. He says he wants to build the best relationships possible so that the player can trust you when it is needed the most.

Oh, and he’s pretty excited about the running backs room, led by Jeremiyah Love.

“J-Love–he can do it all. He can make you miss in a phone booth,” Seider says.