Chris "Belt To" Ash - Defensive Coordinator

[ColoradoIrish]

I still cannot get over how bewildered he always looks on the sidelines. Just stick him in the booth and give him a headset and iPad to make it appear that he’s coaching, but really he can just sit there and watch Squid Game.

He needs to be given the little brother treatment. Give him a controller but don't plug it in and let him think he's playing

 

[CoachB]

Honestly, one of my biggest concerns about him when he was hired was reports that he is kind of a jerk. One of the absolute best things about ND has been their culture with absolutely great dudes on their staff. I worried that having someone like Ash would mess with their culture. Not drawing conclusions, but I still would want a great culture to learn and get better. The best staffs I have ever had are great teachers and approachable.

 

[NDpendent]

If he is not fired by EOD I'm going to post a naughty word in this thread

 

[Rudy89]

So BVG > Ass

That tracks

BVG at least had that fist pump after a great Michigan game, what does Chris Ass have?

 

[pumpdog20]

I still think it's the players rebelling that Mickens didn't get the job. They are so animated out there. They dont trust the call because they dont want to trust an outsider.

 

[stlnd01]

I still think it's the players rebelling that Mickens didn't get the job. They are so animated out there. They dont trust the call because they dont want to trust an outsider.

Is the reason they dont trust the call really that Ash is an outsider or more that he’s a shitty coach?

 

[MacIrish75]

Is the reason they dont trust the call really that Ash is an outsider or more that he’s a shitty coach?

 

[DCK_1981]

In our household even our children refer to our DC as “Chris Ass”. I said if anyone calls him by his government name they will be reprimanded

 

[Terry Jillery]

Chris VangorderAsh

 

[arrowryan]

Idk what they did in the second half. But more of that please.

 

[irishandy]

I would be surprised if Ash got fired during the season and if Freeman lets him go do it during the bye week.

I hope behind closed doors that Freeman takes over being the DC for this season and he is working on a list of candidates for next season.

 

[ulukinatme]

Problem is that Fickell wasn't the play caller on defense from '05 to '10. That was Jim Heacock's defense.

He took the reigns in 2012 and 2013, and the results were....mixed.

Then Ash came in and mixed things up and they saw immediate improvement in '14 and '15.

That isn't to knock Fickell, but Urban clearly saw him as not worthy of taking over the defense full time and felt necessary to bring Ash on.

Now, whatever happened between now and then, Ash has clearly lost his touch for the college game, similar to how BVG was once a great college DC, but that was a good decade prior to him landing in South Bend.

I'll concede the point that Fickell wasn't the play caller, but the fact remains OSU was giving up less than 200 points almost every season Fickell was there and then Ash's first year they gave up the most under Fickell, 330. Yeah, they played an extra game that year, but it was still a far cry from their average. However, any Ash results weren't immediate I would say. They lost that 2nd game of the year against a mediocre VT squad that put 35 on them at home and they'd go on to post a 6-6 regular season record. VT never scored more than 35 that year. The games that followed were Kent State, Cinci, Maryland, and Rutgers, not exactly world beaters offensively.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I would be surprised if Ash got fired during the season and if Freeman lets him go do it during the bye week.

I hope behind closed doors that Freeman takes over being the DC for this season and he is working on a list of candidates for next season.

Is that Luke Fickell's music?

 

[ulukinatme]

Is that Luke Fickell's music?

 

[Hautian Domer]

Freeman needs to own this one … fire the guy, promptly, and say, my bad… through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, I screwed up and am rectifying it.

 

[ColinKSU]

He needs to be given the little brother treatment. Give him a controller but don't plug it in and let him think he's playing

Buddy gets this controller:

 

[StPaul_Irish]

In our household even our children refer to our DC as “Chris Ass”. I said if anyone calls him by his government name they will be reprimanded

Good parenting is so refreshing!

 

[SportsingHard]

I dunno guys, this seems not great

The relevant question isn't, "Has this defense sucked ass so far," but rather, "How much of the defensive suckage is attributable to Chris Ash sucking ass."

 

[NDWarrior]

It’s not MF’s style to make rash in-season coaching firings (at least so far), but I think as a team culture guy, he’s very sensitive to when a coach and behavior becomes a cancer for the team (think Chansi Stuckey, altho’ that was offseason). Ash is not Porker who MF protected until end of season because he was a nice guy trying (unfortunately, failing). Plus in this case, MF and Mickens could handle DC duties for rest of season, no need to find a new hire. So circumstances could be different this time; you never know…

 

[IrishBoognish]

It was wild when Young got the sack yesterday because I knew right away it was gonna happen

Im no expert on Xs and Os, but as soon as they lined up, it looked *exactly* like the type of formation we saw so much last year and the pressure got there immediately.

No confusion, everybody looked confident, and it worked.

What the hell, man... just do that more!

 

[IrishBoognish]

look at that, Golic agrees with me!

 

[KMac151993]

look at that, Golic agrees with me!

Yup...makes you wonder why it took so long. You create chaos.

 

[BleedingGold]

How about we beat NC State so bad they fire Dave Doeren and we hire him to run the defense?

 

[stlnd01]

The relevant question isn't, "Has this defense sucked ass so far," but rather, "How much of the defensive suckage is attributable to Chris Ash sucking ass."

Half to two-thirds.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

Has anyone mentioned how lost this defense is gonna be when they play Navy?

 

[Crazy Balki]

2025 Chris Ash:

 

[NDRock]

I dunno guys, this seems not great

Love the offense and run game. It’s like we’ve combined the 2016 defense with the 2017 offense.

 

[Bluto]

Has anyone mentioned how lost this defense is gonna be when they play Navy?

This team is gonna kill Navy, unless the middies decide to start throwing the ball.

 

[NorthDakota]

This team is gonna kill Navy, unless the middies decide to start throwing the ball.

Marcus gonna have to tell guys to start kneeling at the one so the defense can get a few more minutes to catch their breath

 

[ulukinatme]

Has anyone mentioned how lost this defense is gonna be when they play Navy?

PTSD '07 and the Corwin Brown experiment...and '09...and '10....and '16...