Ash’s Hubris (2)

[MYHATINTHERING]

Ash is just like Terry Shea, they don't have the personality to make it in this part of the country.

People laugh all the time, but it's true, it takes a certain type of person to make it in this part of the country, especially in a job like Ash has. His mid-western country bumpkin wordplay isn't getting him any fans, though some how it does for Jerry Kill whose press conferences seem to resemble a rambling old man with a funny accent.

trASH

 

[MYHATINTHERING]

please don't put words in my mouth. Show me where I said Gary owes me something. Please think before you type. If you think Schiano is the sole reason we are where we are then you agree that he ruined his own legacy. Because Mulcahy and Pernetti had nothing to do with getting us a stadium expansion and invitation into the B1G. Not to mention the players? Stop worshipping the loser like he was an actual good coach. Dude brought us from garbage to mediocre. That's so great right? He could have actually had some legitimate success if he stuck around. If you're not good enough to get your team to be top 25 year in and year out then you're not good. He bailed right when things were getting hard. Sorry but those are the facts. Pretty sure the opportunity of his dreams was to make RU a success the way JoePa did at PSU but yeah Schianos dream was to clearly be a NFL head coach. Just give up because you're statements don't make sense and are weakly thought out

Pernetti did nada
Uncle Bob deserves much praise, more so than greg

 

[RU848789]

considering the only thing he achieved was taking RU to crappy bowls in the worst conference in the country, yeah I expected him to stick around till he actually did something. Schiano quit on his team and he quit on our school plain and simple. I'm sorry but I thought he was more of a man than that but he just ran away when he couldn't get it done. Sorry but its true. I mean his idol Joe Pa stayed at his school till he died. He was even quoted saying he wanted to do what JoePa did for RU. He was a mediocre College Coach and a terrible NFL coach. Yeah I blame him as much as I blame Flood, cause if he doesn't leave then Flood doesn't sink everything Schiano built. Schiano tore down his own legacy by leaving. Plain and simple.

Wow, just wow, I've rarely read such complete ca-ca in one paragraph before. Do you also "blame" Schiano for bringing the absolute worst 1A program in history from the depths to the top 10 and regular bowl wins, as well as for building the program, facilities, stadium and RU brand to such an attractive point that the B1G asked us to join them?

 

[BoroKnight]

Why should a new hire spend all day praising Schiano when he isn't replacing Schiano but stepping into an absolute disaster? He came in after arrests, unethical coaching behavior that resulted in a suspension -- like that happens everywhere -- and facilities that still weren't as good as what he was leaving.

Ash has not shown me very much, but this particular complaint is beyond idiotic. Just stop.

 

[RUChoppin]

Again, my comment on this board when ash was introduced was his arrogant tone and failure to say a single nice thing about an RU football program that has been a perennial bowl team for a decade and that has put a number of top players into the NFL. He made it seem like we were a total disaster as a program and showed not an ounce of gracious recognition to what GS had built.

Well, his absolute disaster of a two year tenure has made us into an offensive embarrassment that would make the loudest critIce of Terry Shea’s disappointing tenure blush. Kind of fulfilling his view of the program singlehandedly. Good thing the powers that be ignored the ridiculous calls on this board for giving him an extension. He appears to be clueless. It’s going to be a long year or two until he’s canned.

"Made it seem like we were a total disaster"? We *were* a total disaster. There was nothing left of what Schiano built except a couple of catch phrases - the foundations were ruined, and all that remained were some motivational posters on the wall. Flood scuttled everything Schiano had built - and last year saw the first year where zero players had ever been coached by Schiano. We had all talked about how Schiano had "built it to last"... but Flood took dynamite to the support beams.

As for "perennial bowl team for a decade"... well, so was Tulsa from 2003-2012 (8 bowls in 10 years), before they won a combined 5 games over the next two years - I wouldn't say that really earned them much "cred". Going .500 or better in a weak conference isn't going to earn a lot of respect at the highest levels. Cincy went 12-0 in the Big East in 2009 before getting smashed by Florida... did that get them a seat at the big boy's table? No - it just got their coach poached, and then back to obscurity. You think Ohio State or Michigan respected UConn's conference championship and BCS bid in 2010? Hell no. Our string of lower tier bowls in a weak conference we never won outright with a weak OOC schedule was setting a stage for to allow us to take the step to the next level.... which never happened, after Schiano bolted for the NFL and Flood was given the keys and drove the program into a ditch.

My comment has nothing to do with Ash - just pushing back on the narrative that any "gracious recognition" was owed to a program that had been unceremoniously dragged through a dumpster by its previous coach after a brief period of middling success.

 

[ashokan]

A lot of the complaints I read about Ash are the same complaints I heard about Monken at Army. Two years in and people were describing the team as "poorly coached" and Monken as a "hardass" who nobody liked and who had alienated the players. I didn't watch RU very closely this year because I knew it would be a clunker. You just don't make a big U turn in a year with a football team as bad a RU was after Flood. The bad that was invested in over the years keeps showing for awhile - like a production line. Its also true Ash is cutting his HC teeth. He'll need to polish up on offenses no doubt. Schiano was weak that way as well but got some talent eventually
.
There is an ok trend.

2016 was 2-10 with two wins vs tomatoes and no B1G wins. The two biggest loses were 78-0 and 56-0.
2017 was 4-8 with three B1G wins. The two biggest loses were 56-0 and 41-0

2016 total offense RU was 128th out of 128 - and total defense was 97th
2017 total offense was 128 out of 130 and total defense was 66th

Things got better (without best player on offense too). Not a lot but that wasn't going to happen. Its a four year job making RU fun again. RU needs more players.

 

[zappaa]

Is this our attempt to run a WR screen?
The whole design of the play sets the game back 50 years

 

[formerlyknownasrutgers100]

A lot of the complaints I read about Ash are the same complaints I heard about Monken at Army. Two years in and people were describing the team as "poorly coached" and Monken as a "hardass" who nobody liked and who had alienated the players. I didn't watch RU very closely this year because I knew it would be a clunker. You just don't make a big U turn in a year with a football team as bad a RU was after Flood. The bad that was invested in over the years keeps showing for awhile - like a production line. Its also true Ash is cutting his HC teeth. He'll need to polish up on offenses no doubt. Schiano was weak that way as well but got some talent eventually
.
There is an ok trend.

2016 was 2-10 with two wins vs tomatoes and no B1G wins. The two biggest loses were 78-0 and 56-0.
2017 was 4-8 with three B1G wins. The two biggest loses were 56-0 and 41-0

2016 total offense RU was 128th out of 128 - and total defense was 97th
2017 total offense was 128 out of 130 and total defense was 66th

Things got better (without best player on offense too). Not a lot but that wasn't going to happen. Its a four year job making RU fun again. RU needs more players.

is that Kiy Hester? He's the only 2 on the roster why was he in on offense ?

 

[RUChow]

I think this fanbase is bi-polar. After the Maryland win and the Sitkowski flip, a third of the fan base was singing Ash's praises and worried about how long he'd stay. Now after three consecutive ass kickings, another third wants to can him.

We don't have a BiG offensive line this year. We won't have a BiG offensive line next year. With J Grant hurt and Ahmed Mitchell being a punk, we had no WR's this year. We won't have BiG WRs next year, as it stands.

I don't think this coaching staff can out-scheme the roster's lack of talent, for what it's worth.

By the way, what is "hubr"?

I've tried to support every RU football coach, but I don't think too many are worried how long Ash will stay.

 

[ashokan]

is that Kiy Hester? He's the only 2 on the roster why was he in on offense ?

According to ESPN Ahmir Mitchell (WR) is also #2

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/roster/_/id/164/rutgers-scarlet-knights

 

[ashokan]

Is this our attempt to run a WR screen?
The whole design of the play sets the game back 50 years

Probably was intended that way - nothing fancy

Lewis said he tends to throw too hard - earlier passes had soared on him because of that. I think here he was compensating and trying to ease up - thus hitting the turf

 

[formerlyknownasrutgers100]

According to ESPN Ahmir Mitchell (WR) is also #2

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/roster/_/id/164/rutgers-scarlet-knights

He’s been off the team for weeks

 

[oldtimer67]

This debate is fun, sort of, but just wasted words. 2018, Ash's third season will tell all. His second season showed some improvement on defense that was mostly torpedoed by lack of depth. But two years of just about the worst offense in the country has minimized that.

The fact is that 2018 will be the deciding year. Major improvement on offense and continued improvement on defense will show that RU under Ash is on schedule. Anything less than that and Ash will still get another year (money) but the handwriting will be on the wall.

 

[ashokan]

He’s been off the team for weeks

Ah too bad - his vids are nice

 

[FastMJ]

I'm truly torn. Last year we all knew we'd suck, with what Flood did to the program, and we did. No surprise at all. Wasn't specifically impressed by Ash, but could understand the bad season and didn't really blame him for it, plus I was reasonably impressed with his first full recruiting class after last year.

Fast forward to this year and I liked the Kill hire and was reasonably happy with the first 10 games of the year, especially the 3 B1G wins and playing UM/PSU competitively for nearly 3Q each. Was bothered by the EMU debacle and the OSU blowout, but assume everyone has one WTF game (EMU) and one blowout by a great team we don't match up well with wasn't a complete surprise.

But I have to say I'm very troubled by the beyond putrid performances during the last two games. Simply no excuse to not show up for IU, especially when we had bowl hopes on the line, and we again seemed unprepared for a good, but not great MSU team that was not 33 points better than we are. Two games in a row being poorly prepared is heavily on the coaching staff.

My biggest problem evaluating the team is trying to figure out how much is on the QBs, because let's face it, ours aren't very good, and that's being kind. It's such an important position that weakness there makes the whole team look much worse than maybe they are. Just imagine how much better this team could've been with Lagow or Lewerke or almost any other B1G QB we faced.

However, Ash does have a pretty good class of verbals and if he can somehow hold the class together by convincing them the 3 B1G wins and 4-8 improvement over 2-10 show a good trajectory, then I do think we can have a better year next year, but that's not a given. And if we have another 3-4 win season, I'll start to think he's done, whereas if we can win 5-6 games, it'll still seem like an upward trajectory. Jury's out though for at least one more year, IMO.

Great post . This perfectly sums up my assessment as well. Ash knows it’s all riding on getting a decent QB into the program.

 

[78CollegeAve]

Is this our attempt to run a WR screen?
The whole design of the play sets the game back 50 years

That’s Zach Allen wearing #2. I think it was supposed to be a double pass but (a) Lewis threw anforward pass and (b) Lewis threw the ball into the turf.

I believe that’s called poor execution. Or calling a play that was far too complex for the QB to execute.

 

[SteveVA2]

How many B1G games did we win in 2016? How many did we win in 2017? Not bad considering the lack of a decent quarterback.

 

[IL Lusciato]

I'm truly torn. Last year we all knew we'd suck, with what Flood did to the program, and we did. No surprise at all. Wasn't specifically impressed by Ash, but could understand the bad season and didn't really blame him for it, plus I was reasonably impressed with his first full recruiting class after last year.

Fast forward to this year and I liked the Kill hire and was reasonably happy with the first 10 games of the year, especially the 3 B1G wins and playing UM/PSU competitively for nearly 3Q each. Was bothered by the EMU debacle and the OSU blowout, but assume everyone has one WTF game (EMU) and one blowout by a great team we don't match up well with wasn't a complete surprise.

But I have to say I'm very troubled by the beyond putrid performances during the last two games. Simply no excuse to not show up for IU, especially when we had bowl hopes on the line, and we again seemed unprepared for a good, but not great MSU team that was not 33 points better than we are. Two games in a row being poorly prepared is heavily on the coaching staff.

My biggest problem evaluating the team is trying to figure out how much is on the QBs, because let's face it, ours aren't very good, and that's being kind. It's such an important position that weakness there makes the whole team look much worse than maybe they are. Just imagine how much better this team could've been with Lagow or Lewerke or almost any other B1G QB we faced.

However, Ash does have a pretty good class of verbals and if he can somehow hold the class together by convincing them the 3 B1G wins and 4-8 improvement over 2-10 show a good trajectory, then I do think we can have a better year next year, but that's not a given. And if we have another 3-4 win season, I'll start to think he's done, whereas if we can win 5-6 games, it'll still seem like an upward trajectory. Jury's out though for at least one more year, IMO.

Great post , and I agree.

 

[LETSGORU91]

Ash didn't realize how much hard work and effort Schiano had to put in to get Rutgers where it was.

Ash got here late, and proceeded to remove a lot of what Greg built up.

Huh? Flood eroded and destroyed what Greg built. Ash has seemingly been working his tail off to rebuild from the ground floor. This isn't an endorsement for Ash, it's reality!

 

[Jim_from_RU]

Sosickofcuredbywinning.

 

[LETSGORU91]

I think this fanbase is bi-polar. After the Maryland win and the Sitkowski flip, a third of the fan base was singing Ash's praises and worried about how long he'd stay. Now after three consecutive ass kickings, another third wants to can him.

We don't have a BiG offensive line this year. We won't have a BiG offensive line next year. With J Grant hurt and Ahmed Mitchell being a punk, we had no WR's this year. We won't have BiG WRs next year, as it stands.

I don't think this coaching staff can out-scheme the roster's lack of talent, for what it's worth.

By the way, what is "hubr"?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Dpgru]

ash has had two years to accomplish a rather large on and off the field transformation. First, he seems to have addressed and fixed the OFF field problems in the discipline, academic, strength and conditioning, and other areas. Second, he seems to have had a good recruiting class last year and this, maybe not great but it takes time to evaluate recruits. Third, the on field results have been slightly improved from last year but the performance is inconsistent, which should be expected. Many have pointed out and continue to hang any poor results on Flood, also justifiable. However, next year the overwhelming number of players on this team will be Ash's. They will be young, but they will be his. Blaming Flood is about over. Next year there should be noticeable improvement on the field from a pure talent point of view. Any lack of talent next year can't be attributed to Flood. Notice, I am not saying results, I am simply saying talent. Speed, strength, athleticism etc. Also, our offensive and defensive schemes will hopefully show more diversity and creativity to reflect the "assumed" improvement in talent. (offensive and defensive schemes are also not Flood's fault any more). Starting next year it is all on Ash.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Schiano is a Rutgers god. He did the impossible. He should have a statue outside the stadium because RU athletics would still be affiliated with the likes of UCONN if not for him.

However, Schianos team still sucked until 2005, when we threw him a parade for getting RU to a loserbowl - which we lost.

If we hold Ash to the same schedule, we'll be fine. If he fails to grow the program by then, the money will be there to hire a proven head coach.

Until then, it's no fun.

Spot-on post.

 

[NotInRHouse]

I agree with RU Numbers.

Ash needs 6 wins to keep from a fan mutiny next year ala 2013. We have 3 cupcakes (Buffalo, TX State, and KU). No excuse to not win another 3 games in conference.

 

[G- RUnit]

The Indiana blow out( Indiana lost yesterday) was inexcusable. So was the EMU loss. Can’t blame Flood for those losses. The ugly losses continue too. 40-7 at home with 12 minutes of possession... really?

Have to get to six wins next year and a bowl.

 

[Shelby65]

5th place is our championship. It’s all the administration seeks given the caliber HC it is willing to pay for.

Does anyone know when the campus parade is ?

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I hated FAMILY

When this board told me what was meant by FAMILY.. I thought they were pulling my leg. I also thought it touched a little bit on religious proselytizing. And while I had no problem with taking the best lessons from religion and using them to do good.. I thought this state school would just go nuts over it.

I was wrong. I think the FAMILY thing did good things for some players and the program. As did CHOP.

I absolutely HATE "The HUNT".. on every level.. Since there is "The Hunt" here in new Jersey.. it is confusing... and it is a tortured metaphor... and as far as I can tell.. CHOP means the same thing.. and it was here.. and well known. I think it would have been nice if Ash came here and said, you know what.. CHOP is about the same thing as HUNT.. lets just rededicate to the CHOP and make it real again.

 

[FanuSanu52]

The Indiana blow out( Indiana lost yesterday) was inexcusable. So was the EMU loss. Can’t blame Flood for those losses. The ugly losses continue too. 40-7 at home with 12 minutes of possession... really?

Have to get to six wins next year and a bowl.

Or what? You're going to cry and whine?

Spoiler alert - that's going to happen no matter what.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Wow, just wow, I've rarely read such complete ca-ca in one paragraph before. Do you also "blame" Schiano for bringing the absolute worst 1A program in history from the depths to the top 10 and regular bowl wins, as well as for building the program, facilities, stadium and RU brand to such an attractive point that the B1G asked us to join them?

 

[78CollegeAve]

ash has had two years to accomplish a rather large on and off the field transformation. First, he seems to have addressed and fixed the OFF field problems in the discipline, academic, strength and conditioning, and other areas. Second, he seems to have had a good recruiting class last year and this, maybe not great but it takes time to evaluate recruits. Third, the on field results have been slightly improved from last year but the performance is inconsistent, which should be expected. Many have pointed out and continue to hang any poor results on Flood, also justifiable. However, next year the overwhelming number of players on this team will be Ash's. They will be young, but they will be his. Blaming Flood is about over. Next year there should be noticeable improvement on the field from a pure talent point of view. Any lack of talent next year can't be attributed to Flood. Notice, I am not saying results, I am simply saying talent. Speed, strength, athleticism etc. Also, our offensive and defensive schemes will hopefully show more diversity and creativity to reflect the "assumed" improvement in talent. (offensive and defensive schemes are also not Flood's fault any more). Starting next year it is all on Ash.

I’d say the jury is still out on the strength and conditioning. Maybe Parker has improved the logistics and equipment, but the game performance hasn’t changed much. With a couple exceptions (Cole, Wilkins), I didn’t see any more strength on the OL or DL this year. I look at our B1G peer group — Purdue, Illi and Indi — and Purdue and Indi crushed our lines. Our DL controlled the Illi OL, but it was mostly true frosh. EMU pushed both lines around too.

Kids all loved Jeremy Cole who ran Flood’s S&C. How’d that work out on the field? Now, you can say that Parker has been trying to make chicken salad out of ... ... but right now I don’t think he’s proven any more in charge of his first S&C program than Ash has as a head coach. Both need to show more signs of competency during games in Year 3.

 

[ashokan]

When this board told me what was meant by FAMILY.. I thought they were pulling my leg. I also thought it touched a little bit on religious proselytizing. And while I had no problem with taking the best lessons from religion and using them to do good.. I thought this state school would just go nuts over it.

I was wrong. I think the FAMILY thing did good things for some players and the program. As did CHOP.

I absolutely HATE "The HUNT".. on every level.. Since there is "The Hunt" here in new Jersey.. it is confusing... and it is a tortured metaphor... and as far as I can tell.. CHOP means the same thing.. and it was here.. and well known. I think it would have been nice if Ash came here and said, you know what.. CHOP is about the same thing as HUNT.. lets just rededicate to the CHOP and make it real again.

Outside of NJ there are also some who thought "FAMILY" was a Sopranos "family" thing