Ashton started at Leigh college 1980–81 and turned the side into a formidable team that rucked the ball at speed due to a lack of size in the pack. He was persuaded in 1981 to take up the position of history teacher and rugby master by then assistant-
bursar Dick Greenwood at
Stonyhurst College where
Kyran Bracken was a pupil at the time and to whom he taught history. His local teaching counterparts included
Ray French. and against a background where arguments or disagreements with the team manager,
Pat Whelan, were frequently aired in public. Ashton was
Clive Woodward's assistant with England from 1998 to 2002 and was the RFU's National Academy Manager from 2002 to 2005. In this role Ashton played a key part in the launch of England Rugby's National Academy system, creating the Junior and Senior National Academies to develop the most talented players at England A, Sevens, Under 21 and Under 19 level. Ashton also coached some of these feeder teams, including England A. Ashton returned to Bath as head coach at the start of 2006 but was appointed as England attack coach from May 2006 to assist head coach
Andy Robinson, alongside forwards' coach
John Wells and defence coach Mike Ford. In December 2006 Robinson was dismissed, and Ashton was appointed England head coach. He chose
Phil Vickery as his captain. Ashton won his first two games in charge of the England team, firstly the
Calcutta Cup tie against Scotland and secondly beating Italy at
Twickenham but led the English team to a crushing defeat against the Irish National Team on his third outing. The 43–13 defeat by Ireland was England's worst ever defeat by Ireland in the 132 years of competition between the two sides. England's
2007 Rugby World Cup campaign started badly: the team only narrowly beat the amateurs of the
United States, and went on to lose 36–0 to
South Africa. However, having finished their group as runners up, they recorded a shock victory over
Australia, won a very tight semi-final against France 14–9, and lost a closely fought final to
South Africa 15–6. Despite criticism of his management, Ashton was reconfirmed as manager of England with an indefinite length contract, on 20 December 2007. England finished second in the 2008 Six Nations, losing games to Wales and Scotland. On 16 April 2008 Martin Johnson was appointed England team manager with effect from 1 July 2008, with Ashton leaving the post immediately. Ashton was offered the role of head coach of the RFU's National Academy but declined this position. He was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2008 New Year Honours. In September 2008 he was appointed director of coaching at the University of Bath and also successfully coached Oxford University to victory in the 2008 Varsity match. In June 2010 Ashton returned to his old club Fylde to become a coaching consultant to the senior squad. He said he is prepared to contribute as much time as he can spare to assisting Head Coach Mark Nelson in the development of Fylde's senior squad. Fylde won National League 2 North 10/11 and Ashton signed for Fylde for the 2011/12 season as Technical Director. Ashton has previously said, "My main strength is as a coach. I see my job as improving players individually, to do the technical work with them, and also to establish the environment, the framework, in which the players operate." Ashton's philosophy is that the backs comprise three creative forces (the scrum-half, the fly-half and the inside-centre) and four penetrative finishers (the outside- centre, the two wings and the full-back).
Teams coached ==International matches as head coach==