Las Vegas Raiders Hiring Chris Ash As New Defensive Backs Coach

On Feb 7, 2022

According to a report from the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy, the Las Vegas Raiders are hiring former Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash as their new defensive backs coach.

The 48-year-old Ash spent two seasons in Columbus, helping the Buckeyes capture the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship in 2014. His unit then allowed just 14.0 points per game and 4.39 yards per play in 2015, good for second and fourth in the country, respectively.

Ash was subsequently named the head coach at Rutgers, where he went 8-32 in parts of four seasons with the Scarlet Knights. He was fired just four games into the 2019 season, then latched on as an analyst at Texas, which was coached at the time by former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman.

When the Longhorns fired Todd Orlando at the end of the 2019 season, Ash was promoted to be their new defensive coordinator. He was not retained when Texas named Steve Sarkisian its new head coach in 2021, however.

Ash made the jump to the NFL last season, reuniting with former Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent just one season as their safeties coach – working with new Ohio State secondary coach Tim Walton – as Meyer was fired after just 13 games.

Ash now becomes the latest addition to Josh McDaniels’ staff in Las Vegas, which includes new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree and wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett.