I read on Twitter a little while ago that Ash hired Western Illinois OL coach AJ Blazek. No specifics on what his role will be but I'm assuming your OL Coach. Football Scoop reported it.
Ash Makes Another Hire
- Thread starter lyndj
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http://footballscoop.com/the-scoop
Rutgers: Western Illinois offensive line coach AJ Blazek is joining Chris Ash’s staff, per source. Blazek has served as offensive line coach at WIU the past three seasons, was co-offensive coordinator / offensive line / tight ends at Winona State prior to that (2009-2012), offensive coordinator / offensive line at Fort Hays State (2005-2009) and served as a grad assistant at Iowa (2001-2004).
http://footballscoop.com/the-scoop
Rutgers: Western Illinois offensive line coach AJ Blazek is joining Chris Ash’s staff, per source. Blazek has served as offensive line coach at WIU the past three seasons, was co-offensive coordinator / offensive line / tight ends at Winona State prior to that (2009-2012), offensive coordinator / offensive line at Fort Hays State (2005-2009) and served as a grad assistant at Iowa (2001-2004).
Yup, CATeam, sounds about right. A few folks who had a love affair with the previous regime and are still heartbroken over its demise appear to keep looking for anything they can to criticize Ash. -And Lord knows they don't want to let anything factual, (like what was pointed out in your last sentence), get in the way.
5-6 years under Kirk Ferentz at Iowa as a player and a grad assistant is not good enough for some?
I was a supporter of the previous staff, but after the performance last season it was time for a change. Now, after reading about how bad things had gotten in the locker room and the complete loss of control, I wish the change had come sooner.
It's a good thing we performed so bad. A couple more 7-5 seasons and the old staff retained, may have set RFootball back 10-15 years. We would never have gotten top recruits to come here.
I still think it's going to take 3-5 years before we are even competitive with the elite B1G teams. At least now, with new blood, new vision and new culture we may have a shot.
It's a good thing we performed so bad. A couple more 7-5 seasons and the old staff retained, may have set RFootball back 10-15 years. We would never have gotten top recruits to come here.
I still think it's going to take 3-5 years before we are even competitive with the elite B1G teams. At least now, with new blood, new vision and new culture we may have a shot.
Going to guess that if this is happening it is not only supporters of Flood who are complaining. Schiano and Golden supporters seem to be the problematic posters.
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Not as exciting on paper as the other hires but I trust it.
It doesn't negate your point but realistically with our old staff 7-5 was not going to happen again...4-5 wins was the ceiling. 2014's 8-5 record with a lot of Schiano's recruits still on the roster was a one time deal.
I believe most Flood supporters have moved on already. As stated above, it is the Schiano/Golden guys
And Ash can do no wrong with others. I have never seen so many build up guys based on being grad assistants at major college programs. He is entitled to build his staff anyway he wants but I would not call this an impressive hire as OL from strictly a resume perspective.
Well...OSU's budget for assistant coaches is 6 million - Rutgers is 2.75 million (in an expensive region). OSU football makes second most in B1G with 40.3 million, while RU is dead last at 2 million. Throw in probably the worst OL recruiting in B1G and I don't think Ash is going to run around stealing too many established coaches at any factory programs. RU doesn't offer a OL coach much to start with. Might not have much to finish with either..Glad to see a midwestern wheat belly boy (so looks like a center) will be doing some OL recruiting.
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From a resume standpoint, maybe not impressive, but I'll call it a solid hire. But, until he proves otherwise, I'm going to give Ash the benefit of the doubt. I strongly believe he HAS a vision, direction and a plan to get there. I'm not sure that we had that previously, and it doesn't much matter, but I intend to remain cautiously optimistic. I won't judge Ash, one way or the other, until next year's signing day.
yes - but suspect that "exciting" and solid O-Line development are not often in the same sentence
Will be interesting to hear the connections - am figuring that he comes with high praise form somebody with a lot of respect in the football community
Some people are going to have a hard time buying into Ash's notion of a cultural change at RU and that includes his hires. The micro and macro criticism that is part of the current culture won't easily take to Ash's desire to shape his staff to fit his vision, especially if that means hiring folks from what these mavens consider " lesser" programs. He has already articulated what he hopes to accomplish with his hires,deal with it.
He's building with people he knows, not a staff he's cobbling together at the coaches convention who will leave at the next opportunity
Who was a grad assistant?
Are people seriously trying to get excited about position coaches?
All I can say is coach Ash, with his background at top flight P5 programs, clearly will know what it will take to be competitive and win in the Big. I will defer to his judgement and "allow" him to hire the staff of his choice. I realize there are many experts on the board that are more knowledgeable but let's try to defer a bit give him a chance.
Not looking to be overly critical but it would be good to get more information on this hire. Played and was a grad assistant at Iowa, then coached at Ft Hays, Winona and Western Illinois. Probably has not spend much time east of Ohio recruiting. I don't think Iowa ever ran a spread offense but assume perhaps his other stops did. I don't care where the players come from if they can help but its very hard to know if this guy is being brought in as more a technician,recruiter or hopefully both. Lots of good JUCO programs in the midwest but I would not think we would be going in that direction. Hopefully it works out well and Ash has a reason to believe he will thrive in this part of the country.
Goes to show you that those folks are more "Flood fans" than they are Rutgers fans. All of a sudden, they call their criticisms "objective" and "being realistic". LOL
Iowa and the midwestern states churn out O-Line men the same way Florida churns out speedsters. Ash knows what he is doing.
If hes hired as OL coach, I'll judge him by pass protection and the holes the RBs have to run through. Other than that I have 0 clue about how good a hire he is.
Saw this Ash quote:
".“Being a head coach is not about Xs and Os,” Ash said. “It’s about being a leader: Developing your coaches, developing your players, recruiting the right people. It’s about being a manager and setting up processes and systems and holding people accountable.”
I like the part about "developing your coaches". Parcells uses to say you have to "coach your coaches". Ash also said its easier to develop a young up and coming coach in the HCs system than an old dog set in his ways.
Listening to Blazek's videos you can see he is like Ash in that he strives for clarity and emphasizes fundamental football. He knows how to keep players vision and thinking clean. My best profs were the ones who could make complicated things clear and not get lost in jargon and high grass.
".“Being a head coach is not about Xs and Os,” Ash said. “It’s about being a leader: Developing your coaches, developing your players, recruiting the right people. It’s about being a manager and setting up processes and systems and holding people accountable.”
I like the part about "developing your coaches". Parcells uses to say you have to "coach your coaches". Ash also said its easier to develop a young up and coming coach in the HCs system than an old dog set in his ways.
Listening to Blazek's videos you can see he is like Ash in that he strives for clarity and emphasizes fundamental football. He knows how to keep players vision and thinking clean. My best profs were the ones who could make complicated things clear and not get lost in jargon and high grass.
I don't know if it's "do no wrong", per se.
Ash has a vision, and I get what he's trying to do. There's a method behind these hires, and they are fitting into a staff concept that he feels will best position us for success. I'm willing to give him plenty of rope right now, as he's dealing with change on multiple fronts within the organization (new AD, completely new staff, new offensive philosophy, new defensive philosophy, new locker room culture, etc.) He's trying to build a group of guys who are all aligned to his vision so that there are no hiccups in the early months, which will allow him to present a solid and consistent front to the players and help manage the program through the transition.
That doesn't mean his moves are going to all work, by any means. I'm just willing to wait and see what happens. We may find out that his choice for OL Coach was completely off base, or that it was a brilliant choice - but we won't know until all the pieces are in place and we get to see how the team performs this year.
Until then, I'll keep my optimism in Ash. We don't know if any moves are right or wrong until they're tested on the field - they're Schroedinger's hires at this point.
You're seeing some consistencies in the announced hires so far:
-experience in the BiG as either a player or a coach (they've seen what it takes to compete in this league; not one member of the previous staff played or coached in the BiG previously and it showed)
-tutelage under a very accomplished coach (Ferenz, Meyer)
-excellence at a lower level of coaching (Blazek was D3 Assistant Coach of the Yr in '12)
-youth (with the exception of the ST coach; these guys are young which translates to higher level of energy and likely higher ability to relate to 17-22 yr olds)
So far, with this staff, who thinks we are worse off?
So far, with this staff, who thinks the ceiling is the same or lower than 12-15?
Will Ash & Co make mistakes? Absolutely. Will they struggle in 2016? Very likely.
Will we be better in 2018 than we are in 2015? Very possible.
-experience in the BiG as either a player or a coach (they've seen what it takes to compete in this league; not one member of the previous staff played or coached in the BiG previously and it showed)
-tutelage under a very accomplished coach (Ferenz, Meyer)
-excellence at a lower level of coaching (Blazek was D3 Assistant Coach of the Yr in '12)
-youth (with the exception of the ST coach; these guys are young which translates to higher level of energy and likely higher ability to relate to 17-22 yr olds)
So far, with this staff, who thinks we are worse off?
So far, with this staff, who thinks the ceiling is the same or lower than 12-15?
Will Ash & Co make mistakes? Absolutely. Will they struggle in 2016? Very likely.
Will we be better in 2018 than we are in 2015? Very possible.
I think everyone should be entitled to their opinion. Regardless of who you support, if a fan is not impressed with a hire they should have a right to "respectfully" express their dissatisfaction on a free board. Personally, I'm not very impressed with this hire. I truely expected hires who possessed more experience and more on gridiron success.
I also find it odd and borderline concerning that Ash was quoted saying that being a head coach is so much more than sitting around and obsessing over X's & O's. Really? He should study Hall of Fame coaches like Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno who built their careers by obsessing and surgically implementing the X's and O's of a playbook.
I also find it odd and borderline concerning that Ash was quoted saying that being a head coach is so much more than sitting around and obsessing over X's & O's. Really? He should study Hall of Fame coaches like Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno who built their careers by obsessing and surgically implementing the X's and O's of a playbook.
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