Chris Ash

Head coach, Rutgers, 2016 to 2019

Now

Career arc

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerFBS medianRutgersMarylandMarylandNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelRutgers when he took over: 26.8 (National Program III), its final 2015 readingtook overRutgers, 2016: 2-10, Regional Program IRutgers, 2016: 2-10, Regional Program I20162-10Rutgers, 2017: 4-8, Regional Program II20174-8Rutgers, 2018: 1-11, Regional Program II20181-11Rutgers, 2019: 1-3, Regional Program IIIRutgers, 2019: 1-3, Regional Program III20191-3-8.1best: 2016gray dashed: rival programs · ○ the program when he took over · Dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Coordinator years

Defensive coordinator across 3 programs, 4 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.

100th — best in the country90th — elite — top 10%75th — top quarter50th — national median25th — bottom quarter0 — worst in the countryHis unit’s national rank, by season’14’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26Ohio State · DCRutgers · head coachTexas→ Became head coachRutgers, 2016← Returned to coordinatingTexas, 2020Ohio State ranked 32nd percentile the year before he arrived○ what he walked intoOhio State 2014: 80th percentile nationallyOhio State 2015: 84th percentile nationallyTexas ranked 53rd percentile the year before he arrivedTexas 2020: 63rd percentile nationallyNotre Dame ranked 94th percentile the year before he arrivedNotre Dame 2025: 95th percentile nationallyNotre Dame ranked 95th percentile the year before he arrivedNotre Dame 2026: 79th percentile nationallyRutgers 2016: 37th percentile (Jay Niemann ran the unit)Rutgers 2017: 40th percentile (Bill Busch / Jay Niemann ran the unit)Rutgers 2018: 47th percentile (Jay Niemann ran the unit)Rutgers 2019: 13th percentile (Andy Buh / Noah Joseph ran the unit)95th, career bestNotre Dame, 202513th percentile

How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from our coordinator career records; head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from the staff assignments record. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.

Report card

Defense carries it: 40th percentile defense, bottom-quarter offense at 21st.

Rutgers, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.

Offense

D
of which —21st
efficiency — 21st percentile success rate, 2016–19
D25th
Standard-downs success
D20th
Passing-downs success
C-35th
Trench push (line yards)
D19th
Red-zone scoring rate
B-54th
Power-success (short yardage)
D20th
Ball security (giveaways per game)

Defense

C
of which —40th
40th percentile SP+ defense, 2016–19
C-32nd
Front-7 havoc
B65th
Secondary havoc
C-37th
Stuff rate (run defense)
D16th
Takeaways per game

Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.