After recently being hired as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Urban Meyer began work on building his team.
According to a Yahoo Sports‘Pete Thamel, Meyer is expected to add former University of Texas defensive coordinator Chris Ash to his team.
Sources: Chris Ash is expected to join Urban Meyer’s team in Jacksonville as a position coach. Ash was Meyer’s DC during the 2014 season, when Ohio State won the national title.
– Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 16, 2021
Ash’s most recent role was with Texas not only as the team’s defensive coordinator, but also as a security technician under Tom Herman in 2020. In 2019, he served as an analyst for the Longhorns.
Prior to his time with Texas, Ash was the head coach of the 2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights until the end of September 2019. Ash was fired from Rutgers due to poor performance, accumulating an overall record of just eight wins and 33 losses.
Before taking charge of Piscataway, New Jersey, with Rutgers, Ash worked for Meyer at Ohio State. He was the defense co-coordinator with Luke Fickell, and also trained security guards for the Buckeyes. This connection is the reason why many believed that Ash would be a target for Meyer’s team in Jacksonville.
Like Meyer, Ash has no previous experience as an NFL coach. However, he has been on the faculty coaching career since 1997, starting at his alma mater, Drake University, as a graduate assistant. He took over as the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs the following year and remained there during the 1998 season.
Other bus stops for Ash include Iowa State, San Diego State, Arkansas and Wisconsin. He also had a short stint at Princeton, but was only there for spring training in 1998 before returning to Drake to make defensive plays.
He trained defensive backs or security guards in particular on almost every chart, except perhaps his role as head coach with Rutgers or his indefinite role as a graduate assistant with Drake (he may have had direct high school training on those charts too, but I can’t confirm ).