Chris "Belt To" Ash - Defensive Coordinator

StPaul_Irish

StPaul_Irish

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Bane said:
Let me ask you, if the defense continues to play the way it has the last 4 weeks and routinely holds opponents about 20-25 points under their ppg averages and we go on a deep run, would you still want Ash gone?
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I mean.... maybe? I would give up my 8 year old son to have Golden back.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

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Bane said:
Let me ask you, if the defense continues to play the way it has the last 4 weeks and routinely holds opponents about 20-25 points under their ppg averages and we go on a deep run, would you still want Ash gone?
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If they manage to win out and go 10-2, with continuous improvement, I honestly don't think I'd want him gone. It sucks that it took the first two and a half games to really settle into adjusting for everyone. Two of those games being at Miami and home to a good TAMU team. Such is life.

Since halftime of the Purdue game, it's been WAY better. They've become a second half team defensively. One of the better ones in the country.
 
AKRowdy

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I remember when everyone wanted Golden gone in his early years. Maybe Ash has the same trajectory? Also I unfortunately do agree with 08… we need to get some dudes in the portal this year for DL.
 
ulukinatme

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AKRowdy said:
I remember when everyone wanted Golden gone in his early years. Maybe Ash has the same trajectory? Also I unfortunately do agree with 08… we need to get some dudes in the portal this year for DL.
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Really? I felt early on that Golden was an improvement over Marcus (Strictly as a DC). He held OSU to 21 points in Columbus, and while there were a few games we gave up a lot of points to good offenses like NC and USC, we were also dealing with the Pyne situation and there were some games the defense was on the field more than they needed to be.

I still feel that way today. I think Marcus did somewhat satisfactory his one year as our DC, but he also had the benefit of facing a lot of really inept offenses. That inflated how good our defense really looked at points. We gave up too many scores to FSU, Toledo, VT, North Carolina, and OK State that year. I thought Golden definitely improved things in '22 and I much prefer Freeman in the HC role today.
 
AKRowdy

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ulukinatme said:
Really? I felt early on that Golden was an improvement over Marcus (Strictly as a DC). He held OSU to 21 points in Columbus, and while there were a few games we gave up a lot of points to good offenses like NC and USC, we were also dealing with the Pyne situation and there were some games the defense was on the field more than they needed to be.

I still feel that way today. I think Marcus did somewhat satisfactory his one year as our DC, but he also had the benefit of facing a lot of really inept offenses. That inflated how good our defense really looked at points. We gave up too many scores to FSU, Toledo, VT, North Carolina, and OK State that year. I thought Golden definitely improved things in '22 and I much prefer Freeman in the HC role today.
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I remember people being pissed at him on this board. But I agree with you. I really liked him even early on.
 
Bane

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ulukinatme said:
Really? I felt early on that Golden was an improvement over Marcus (Strictly as a DC). He held OSU to 21 points in Columbus, and while there were a few games we gave up a lot of points to good offenses like NC and USC, we were also dealing with the Pyne situation and there were some games the defense was on the field more than they needed to be.

I still feel that way today. I think Marcus did somewhat satisfactory his one year as our DC, but he also had the benefit of facing a lot of really inept offenses. That inflated how good our defense really looked at points. We gave up too many scores to FSU, Toledo, VT, North Carolina, and OK State that year. I thought Golden definitely improved things in '22 and I much prefer Freeman in the HC role today.
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Agreed on Freeman. Before this season, honestly Freeman may have been the worst DC we had in the 2017-2024 stretch. Not a knock on him really though because we rolled out some great DCs.
 
Bane

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AKRowdy said:
I remember people being pissed at him on this board. But I agree with you. I really liked him even early on.
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I liked Golden more and more each season. I was confused at the hire at first, sort of up and down on him in '22, but I steadily grew to love him. Time will tell with Ash. I will say, Golden is a much more likable person than Ash, well, at least how Ash comes across. Ash sort of comes across as a bit of a prick. But, if his defense keeps playing like it has since halftime against Purdue that's fine by me.
 
S

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ulukinatme said:
Really? I felt early on that Golden was an improvement over Marcus (Strictly as a DC). He held OSU to 21 points in Columbus, and while there were a few games we gave up a lot of points to good offenses like NC and USC, we were also dealing with the Pyne situation and there were some games the defense was on the field more than they needed to be.

I still feel that way today. I think Marcus did somewhat satisfactory his one year as our DC, but he also had the benefit of facing a lot of really inept offenses. That inflated how good our defense really looked at points. We gave up too many scores to FSU, Toledo, VT, North Carolina, and OK State that year. I thought Golden definitely improved things in '22 and I much prefer Freeman in the HC role today.
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Remember, ND's defense was good but gave up touchdowns on 100% of red zone possessions that year (or close to 100%). Many fans were angry about it and all of the beat reporters kept insinuating that Al was going back to the NFL that off-season. The subtext was that it would be "encouraged" for him to seek something else that off-season.

Granted, I fell on the side of a new defensive coordinator with guys trying to figure out the new scheme all just needed more time. It sticks out to me because I never understood the Golden hate (especially since the defense wasn't actually that bad).

At the time, I think it was vastly overlooked that the seniors were playing with their 3rd offensive coordinator in 3 years (Lea 2020, Freeman 2021, Golden 2022). Just as the team got better in Golden year 2, Ash will get better on top of the improvement the team has already shown.
 
ulukinatme

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Bane said:
Agreed on Freeman. Before this season, honestly Freeman may have been the worst DC we had in the 2017-2024 stretch. Not a knock on him really though because we rolled out some great DCs.
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Exactly. It was easy going from Elko to Lea after the disaster that was Van Gorder, and then Freeman came in and we weren't quite as sound as the year prior even though we had the benefit of facing a lot of bad offenses. Freeman wasn't really a bad DC, just not quite up to snuff compared to what we had been spoiled with for a few years. He's proven he's a better HC than Kelly though, he knows how to win the big games and I feel like he learns lessons better instead of making the same mistakes.
 
Bane

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CoachB said:
I can't help but to think Ash is not solely responsible for the turnaround.
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It's a team effort and I don't think anyone is solely responsible for anything. It seemed like a lot of the between the tea leaves of Freeman's comments before Purdue is there wasn't total player buy in. That seems to have changed and Ash has adjusted to be more aggressive.
 
Crazy Balki

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AKRowdy said:
I remember when everyone wanted Golden gone in his early years. Maybe Ash has the same trajectory? Also I unfortunately do agree with 08… we need to get some dudes in the portal this year for DL.
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I don't recall anybody having anything close to the same level of animosity for Golden as we did for Ash.

And I say WE because I was 100% part of the pitchfork brigade.

There was definitely concern whether he was the right guy, but people weren't calling for his head week 2 like we were for Ash. Granted, a lot of that is expectation based. ND was coming off a poor defensive display in 2021 and was replacing a considerable number of excellent defensive players. This year, they were coming off a national title appearance and had a good bit of talent returning. So the drop from elite defensively to borderline awful against A&M was definitely a massive concern.
 
Te'o4Heisman

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SportsingHard said:
Very interesting. In raw data, ND is 76th in yards surrendered per pass play and 18th in yards surrendered per run play. I appreciate adjusted advanced stats, but I don't how they arrived at ND having a good pass D and neutral run D.
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Read the fine print across the top of each graph. If we play the best offenses and have been holding them significantly below their season averages and efficiency, that carries weight against better raw data versus playing Wisconsin basically.
 
F

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I loved Al but that delayed safety blitz against OSU damn near killed me. This turnaround is crazy. I went from having zero faith he could turn it to expecting quality game plans and calls.
 
Veritate Duce Progredi

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I had completely lost faith in him by the TAMU end. Purdue first half made me resolved to be a cantankerous asshole, bitching about this hire until someone new was brought in......

Then something shifted in the universe and ND's defense is looking better every week despite injuries. Looking forward to watching the evolution of this defense because most metrics have this defense in the top 25, some in the top 10, after an absolutely abysmal start.
 
PolishDomer

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CoachB said:
I can't help but to think Ash is not solely responsible for the turnaround.
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"You got that right" - Marcus Freeman

images
 
Old Man Mike

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Shallow opinion here --> Coach Freeman deserves the credit for taking on the HEAD coach role in this. In his critical press conference he sort off openly (without naming names) expressed a big negative about how some of the drills and details teaching were going on in the pre-game practices and sessions. He specially sighted an example: some of the DBs were NOT getting sufficient detail training against specific situations and opponents as to how much speed to expect at critical moments of a route. He was NOT AT ALL happy-talking about this sloppiness in pre-game in-week practices. I heard (sub-rosa) criticism of the staff's behavior here, not the players.

THEN --> Coach Ash took charge of HIS job as DC, and whipped all of this slack into shape. Since the players had lost a lot of practice and session teaching, it then has taken some "healing" up the lost time, and getting us back to our Rockem' defense style with our EFFECTIVE effort and turnovers. (I can imagine, by the way, a new coach inserted in over the heads of the rest of a retained staff NOT immediately micro-managing the hell out of those other staff members, and some of them not having the personal discipline to make the go-all-the-way effort without that in-your-business overseership.)

So. Credit? Coach Freeman: Yes. Coach Ash: Yes. Some other coaches?: more intensity and teaching please.
 
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