Texas Football: Chris Ash mentioned amid top assistant coach hires

New Texas football defensive coordinator Chris Ash was recently ranked as one of the most important assistant coach hires in the country this offseason.

At the conclusion of the 2019 regular season, much of the coaching staff for the Texas football program was turned over. Despite the Longhorns topping the Texas Tech Red Raiders by the final score of 49-24 in the regular season finale last year, head coach Tom Herman still made some much-needed shifts to his supporting cast.

The most significant of the changes to the Texas coaching staff included the departures of former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Beck. Orlando was replaced by former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash and Beck with former Ohio State passing game coordinator Mike Yurcich.

Other significant hires/promotions within the coaching staff included Jay Valai as cornerbacks coach, Andre Coleman as wide receivers coach, and Mark Hagen as co-defensive line coach.

Zach Barnett of The Football Scoop released a piece on the afternoon of June 22 that detailed the top 20 best assistant coaching hires during the 2020 offseason in the college football landscape. And Ash was considered among the top 10 assistant coaching hires of the offseason so far. Here’s what they had to say about placing Ash at No. 6 on the list.

"As the clock (literally) wound down on the worst decade in the program’s modern history, Texas put together one of its best defensive performances of the 2010s. The ‘Horns limited Utah to 3.5 yards per rush, 5.5 yards per pass attempt, collected five sacks, racked up 21 yards in TFLs on rushing downs, won 10 of 14 third downs, permitted just 15 first downs and just generally kicked tail in a 38-10 win.After playing off the ball all season, rising junior Joseph Ossai generated first-round hype in moving to an edge position in the ‘Horns’ new 4-down front, earning game MVP honors with nine tackles, six TFLs and three sacks."

Ironically there were a few other assistants with ties to the Texas program that were listed here. Former Texas DC Orlando was included at No. 7 on the list. He was on the list one spot behind Ash. Orlando will be taking over as the next defensive coordinator of the USC Trojans.

Former Texas offensive analyst and North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Larry Fedora was included on the list at No. 18. Fedora is taking over as the next offensive coordinator with the Baylor Bears. And Baylor will be putting forward a new head coach this year with former LSU Tigers defensive coordinator Dave Aranda.

Ash spent roughly three and a half seasons with the Rutgers football program. He managed a record of 8-32 in those four years in Piscataway. But his specialty is defensive scheming, and the fit alongside Herman once again should be great.