Second Notre Dame football spring nothing like the first for DC Chris Ash

SOUTH BEND – Irony was everywhere. 

You could sense it watching Notre Dame football work through the first spring practice of 2026 from the viewing balcony of the Irish Athletics Center. You could feel it afterward as one specific Irish assistant coach met the media. 

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There was a time during the 2025 season that went off the rails right away when you wondered if defensive coordinator Chris Ash would make it to midseason, let alone return to South Bend for a second. A Notre Dame defense that looked so sure, so together, so dominant in 2024, as Notre Dame won 14 games and made a run to the College Football Playoff national championship game, was a shadow of its former self to start under Ash. 

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The Irish didn’t show confidence. The Irish didn’t show swagger. The Irish didn’t make plays those first two weeks, those first two losses, while allowing 27 points to Miami (Fla.) and a staggering 41 in the home opener to Texas A&M. They were too cautious. Too careless. 

Something had to change. Someone may have even had to go. That someone could have been Ash, who seemingly was in over his head. Something happened on the way to the unemployment line. Notre Dame stuck with Ash, and Ash stuck with his coaching beliefs, and a defense that looked so dubious in those first two weeks became dominant. 

Notre Dame finished 2025 ranked 22^nd in the nation in total defense (313.5 ypg.), 12^th in rush defense (100.1), ninth in pass efficiency defense (108.80), 11^th in scoring (17.6 ppg.) and fourth in interceptions (21). After allowing an average of 34 points in the first two weeks, the defense allowed an average of 14.3 points in the last 10. 

There on the first day of Spring 2026 sat Ash, still stone serious, but also offering an occasional smile. Or smirk. Not only is he the returning defensive coordinator, but, irony here, he’s the only defensive assistant coach of any kind to return in 2026. He’s gone from the new guy to the old guy in one offseason hiring cycle. 

“I just know the players a lot better,” Ash said. “I have a better feel of what we have to work on. Last year, I had no idea, other than they played. (We’d) go through our calls, figure it out in the spring. I have a much better idea of what we can do well, what we need to improve and just have to do a great job of (our) coaches getting that understanding as well.” 

Ash wears myriad hats this spring. He’s coaching up a defense that could be scary good in 2026 with defensive line transfers Francis Brewu, Tionne Gray, and Keon Keeley added to a group that includes linebackers Jaiden Ausberry, Drayk Bowen, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, and Jaylen Sneed and a back end of Christian Gray, Tae Johnson, Leonard Moore, and Adon Shuler. 

He’s also coaching up his newbie staff in Charlie Partridge (defensive line), Brian Jean-Mary (linebackers), Jevaughn Codlin (safeties) and Aaron Henry (corners, co-DC). 

If the new players have a question, they look at Ash. Likewise, if the new coaches have a concern. 

“It’s different because I’ve been here,” he said. “I’ve got to do a great job of helping the others learn their players, educate them on what their strengths and weaknesses were so we can work on those.” 

More comfortable with who he is and where he is, Ash doesn’t have a desire to move quicker than he might have moved last spring. He’s spending less time trying to learn names and numbers, and more time defining/refining the details of what makes a good defense. 

Is the group communicating the way it’s supposed to communicate? Are they making the proper adjustments when adjustments are expected? Are their eyes in the right place? Are they sound fundamentally? All of that is stuff that could be taken for granted. It’s not. 

“There will be a time when we can speed it up,” Ash said. “Our process is to slow it down and do a great job of teaching and being thorough, and then we’ll speed it up as we go.” 

There may be a long way for this defense and this season to go, but there’s a lot for Ash to like, even on the first morning. The defense looked like a defense should look. That’s a good first-day step. 

“There’s good energy, good competitive spirit,” he said. “There’s really good recall from the guys that were here in the past. They’re doing a great job communicating, flying around.” 

Even being around. Look out during a position-specific or unit-specific period, and it wasn’t usual to see Bowen and Viliamu-Asa there in the middle, taking reps. Bowen will be limited in spring as he rehabs offseason right hip (labrum) surgery while Viliamu-Asa is considered out while recovering from a knee injury suffered against Syracuse. 

Both were in blue shorts and t-shirts, but were still taking reps when there were none to be taken. That tells Ash a lot. About the group. About what this season can be. When guys want to get their work done in the training room so they can be on the practice field, that’s something 

“It speaks to the culture of the program,” Ash said. “Some programs, a guy’s hurt, he wants to go hide. They want to be out here with their teammates, help coach, listen to the new (position) coach. There’s no better way to do it than to be out here. 

“Reps are the mother of all learning.”

As is answering adversity, something Ash has done.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Chris Ash has adjusted to being Notre Dame football defensive coordinator