Ohio State's Bill Busch to be Rutgers defensive backs coach

Ohio State quality control assistant Bill Busch is the new defensive backs coach for Rutgers coach Chris Ash, according to a source.

Ohio State quality control assistant Bill Busch is the new defensive backs coach for Rutgers coach Chris Ash, according to a source.

It’s a reuniting of Busch and Ash who worked together this season at Ohio State. This year was Busch’s first as a quality control assistant for the Buckeyes.

Before that, he was Wisconsin’s safeties coach for two seasons. He an assistant at Utah State from 2009–12, first as defensive coordinator for two seasons before becoming the Aggies’ associate head coach, special teams coordinator and safeties coach his final two years.

Busch was an assistant at Nebraska from 2004–07, initially as outside linebackers coach for a season. He moved to safeties coach his final three seasons and was also special teams coordinator each of his years with the Cornhuskers.

He was Utah’s safeties coach from 2001–03, New Mexico State’s safeties coach from 1997–2000 and Northern Arizona’s defensive backs coach from 1995–96. Busch was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in ’94 after four seasons as a graduate assistant at Nebraska.

An O’Neill, Neb., native, Busch got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Nebraska-Kearney, in 1989. He played wide receiver at Nebraska Wesleyan from ’85-87.

Ash became Rutgers’s coach earlier this month after serving as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, including last year’s national championship squad. The Buckeyes are second in the FBS in scoring defense this season (14 points allowed per game) and 10th in total defense (303.5 yards allowed per game).

Ash replaces former Rutgers coach Kyle Flood, who was fired following a 4–8 season in which he was suspended for three games due to improperly contacting a professor about a player’s grade. Flood had a 27–24 record in his four seasons with the Scarlet Knights.