CHICAGO — Chris Ash walked across the stage Monday morning at Big Ten Media Days donning a black suit, white shirt and red tie. He strutted confidently to the podium, stood in front of the microphone and began with his opening remarks. Ash looked like a guy who had done this 20 times before.
Only he hadn’t. This was his first time on this stage.
“It’s my first time here,” he said. “I’ve been part of the Big Ten for a while, but never had a chance to come to Media Days.”
After spending the last two seasons at Ohio State, Ash now has his first head coaching gig as the lead man at Rutgers. It's been a long time coming for the former Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator, but he feels at home now with his new job.
“I truly believe the Big Ten brand and football is at an all-time high right now,” he said, “And I’m excited to be a part of it and I know Rutgers and New Jersey are excited to be a part of it, too.”
Following a tumultuous 4-8 season littered with player arrests and a university policy violation, Rutgers parted ways with Kyle Flood after last year. The Scarlet Knights officially hired Ash on Dec. 7, 2015, and it immediately impacted the Rutgers program, according to the players.
“I think as soon as he got here he let it be known how he wanted things done,” Rutgers senior defensive tackle Darius Hamilton said of his new head coach. “You were either going to fall in the line or you were going to be asked to leave."
“There’s no time to speculate, it’s ‘We’re going to have to buy in or we’re going to have to find someplace else to go.’ I think that’s probably the best thing he could have done because you don’t know how many kids are on the fence about that sort of thing until you give them a push, give them a shove and help them see things the right way.”
If that competitive philosophy sounds somewhat familiar, it should. After spending the previous two seasons working under Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Ash said he gained a lot of knowledge about how to run a program. He's learned a lot throughout his coaching career, but he garnered plenty of information working alongside a three-time national championship head coach.
“I’ve coached under what I would consider a lot of great coaches and I’ve taken bits and pieces from all of them and what I’ve found is that end of the day, take the advice and be your own man, believe in what you believe in,” Ash said. “The good thing is all the coaches that I’ve worked for, a lot of them believe in the same things. Urban was probably just at a different level because of the years of experience that he has had. He does it probably a little bit better than everybody else does because of those years, but I take bits and pieces from all of them to help develop and create their own plan.”
Rutgers is a difficult job and Ash knows he has his hands full sharing a division with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State. But the former Buckeyes’ assistant has already laid a strong foundation and he’s hoping to turn around a program that has been through its fair share of turmoil recently.
“We’ve definitely seen a change in the way he does things, what he’s asked and how he wants things done and he wants things done the right way,” wide receiver Andre Patton said. “Once he came into the program, everyone knew how he wanted things to go. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact.”
Added Hamilton: "He’s a proven guy who has taken a chance on us and this program and we’re very excited to have him on board.”
