What was it that persuaded Chris Ash to leave Arkansas for Ohio State?

It wasn't money.



Remarkably, Ash's salary made him just the ninth-highest paid defensive coordinator last season in the SEC, where coaching salaries are always ahead of the rest of the country.

But both Ohio State co-defensive coordinators, Luke Fickell and Everett Withers, also made more than Ash last season. And that was for a defense that ranked 112th in the nation against the pass. Ash is the guy who is supposed to help fix that, with Withers now the head coach at James Madison. The idea that Ash made the jump to the Buckeyes for less money is a little surprising.


It doesn't pay that way.