Chris Ash has always been viewed as a strong defensive coordinator. Even though his time as the head coach at Rutgers is forgettable, Ash has been the defensive mind behind several quality football teams.

Before taking the head coaching job at Rutgers, Ash was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State under then-head coach Urban Meyer. And the former Buckeyes leader still thinks highly of his ex-assistant.

Meyer said on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff that Texas made the best coordinator hire of the offseason by bringing Ash to Austin.

“The top coordinator hire, to me, in all of college football was Chris Ash,” Meyer said. “He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around. What he’ll give to the Texas staff, he’s been a head coach. He was much more than a defensive coordinator. He was our defensive coordinator the year we won a national championship. I hired him. He came in and changed a lot of things on defense. Brough in rugby tackling.

“But beyond that, every player issue with things, I would always lean on him. He’s that good of a coach, He’s, by far, the best coordinator hire of the year. …I think we’ll see big-time improvement on Texas’ defense.”

Ash was never able to get Rutgers off the ground in his 3 1/2 seasons with the program, posting an 8-32 record (3-26 B1G) before being terminated midway through the 2019 season. But he’s been the defensive coordinator for some really good programs.

Not only was he on the staff with Ohio State during the 2014 season, he’s also had stops at Iowa State, Wisconsin and Arkansas. He brings a ton of experience to the Longhorns, which desperately needs to improve on the defensive end of the football.