And here is part of Scipio Texas of IT on Ash
Chris Ash to be next Texas DC - Scipio Thoughts - Inside Texas
Stop Frontin'
Ash historically prefers four man fronts. Which is fine. Texas has a good personnel fit for any front we want, though it's important to deploy athletes like Ossai, Ojomo, Coburn, Overshown, and Foster correctly no matter the base defense. The three vs four man front debates are eye-rolling and the people advancing number of DL as a primary cause for Orlando's failure don't understand why he failed. The #1 defense in the conference ran a base 3 man and they had the best pressure and sack rate in the Big 12. It's about deployment, philosophy, fundamentals, and teaching. It's not about how many dudes have their hand on the ground. Four is fine. Three is fine. How are you deploying it and what are you doing around it?
Scheme
Ash is a back-to-basics hire. Understanding and learning his philosophy is important and may be edifying, but as long as he makes the requisite adjustments to Big 12 play, the scheme is just a vehicle to deliver the more substantive changes that need to be made. Texas needs better teaching, coaching and development at the positional level. His understanding of how to best deploy some of our hybrid or hinge personnel is also key. The 2020 defensive staff will have a massive basic coaching deficit to make up. It begins at the positional level. By the way, if that deficit isn't fixed, Ash's scheme will fail. Simple relies on fundamentals and player autonomy. This team needs to get coached up and smartened up. No Xs on the white board are going to work without teaching them the game and their role within the defense. There are no short cuts. I don't care how cool the lines you drew up on the play card look. The era of Mindless Xs running to spots needs to end.
Herman
For a MENSA infinity dimensional chess player, Tom Herman has thus far demonstrated a very narrow, parochial world of coaching hires and possibilities. He might be Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting. Gotta leave Southy! It's a big world. That doesn't mean Ash is a bad hire, but it's improbable that the best hire is limited to the universe of individuals that Tom Herman has worked with. Evidence? Math. Also, his former staff at Texas that he's currently in the process of replacing wholesale. That written, best hire doesn't preclude right hire. Or much improved hire. Ash may be just that. Let's try to hold multiple seemingly contradictory ideas in our heads at once.
Teaching
Forget Rutgers. Ash going 8-32 as head coach at Rutgers is irrelevant unless he went 8-32 because he can't communicate, teach, or hold his staff accountable. There are plenty of head coaching train wrecks who are terrific coordinators. Ash's most important traits will be demonstrated by his ability to guide Herman's positional hires, his own ability to coach a position (Orlando the LB coach did a terrible job for Orlando the DC), his understanding of the challenges posed by Big 12 schematic diversity, and his overall ability to teach players and staff what he wants.
The Texas defense will turn it around by teaching the game of football within a sane scheme. By deploying its best players in the proper positions. By demonstrating basic competence in development. Boring, right? It is. But that's how the Texas defense can transform itself over the Spring and Summer camps. The positional hires on defense will be every bit as important as the defensive coordinator.