James Kratch At NJ.Com- Good Q&A Today-Hot Seat and Facilities

[Knight Shift]

https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/..._do_more_for_rutgers_recruiting_bowl_tri.html

He is fair and balanced. And like many of us here, he sees thing going totally in the right direction.

He got a question about what would put Chris on the hot seat:

"It will be a disappointment if Rutgers fails to win five games this fall, but not necessarily a disaster in the grand scheme (If Rutgers bombs and wins two games this fall, sure, things will get shaky). If the 2019 season comes and goes without a bowl trip, then yes, you would have to think the heat would be on Ash. That all aside, it’s surprised me since I started covering the team how many fans seem eager to declare Ash’s seat hot, or war game out how it can get there.

Ash inherited a toxic program in 2016. He went 2-10 that season, an overall result that was expected. Maybe some of the losses were much uglier than people thought, but few, if any, thought his first team would be terribly competitive. Then he turned around and went 4-8 last fall with three Big Ten wins, something that was quite unexpected. He’s also cleaned up the program, gotten the APR scores back to a respectable spot (and rising) and potentially landed a game-changing recruit in quarterback Artur Sitkowski. The bottom line is clear progress has been made. Until that stops for a prolonged period, or regression begins, why even dwell on this?"

 

[Knight Shift]

On facilities. Found this interesting:
"The second thing fans need to keep in mind: Did you know Georgia – which just came about as close to winning a national title as you can without winning it – hasn’t updated its weight room in decades and just got its first indoor facility in 2017? And Miami just got its first indoor facility this year? I think those programs have been able to do OK for themselves. And on the other hand, Kansas has glistening facilities, with more on the way, and they are a national laughingstock. The point is, facilities certainly help, and they have to be stressed. But they aren’t a panacea if you have great ones, and they don’t have to be an excuse if you don’t."

 

[Knight Shift]

And on recruiting (this should be pinned somewhere). There is a LOT more in the link:

"There have been plenty of analysis pieces that show the teams that reach the CFP and win national titles have rosters that are heavy on four- and five-star players. That’s not what Rutgers is trying to do right now, and programs like Wisconsin have proven you can succeed with less-heralded recruits if you can coach them up. As long as Ash and his staff are bringing in Big Ten-caliber players that are making a difference, it doesn’t matter if they are considered “blue chip” for the time being. Besides, Rutgers needs to win more to land those players more consistently."

 

[RUSK97]

On facilities. Found this interesting:
"The second thing fans need to keep in mind: Did you know Georgia – which just came about as close to winning a national title as you can without winning it – hasn’t updated its weight room in decades and just got its first indoor facility in 2017? And Miami just got its first indoor facility this year? I think those programs have been able to do OK for themselves. And on the other hand, Kansas has glistening facilities, with more on the way, and they are a national laughingstock. The point is, facilities certainly help, and they have to be stressed. But they aren’t a panacea if you have great ones, and they don’t have to be an excuse if you don’t."

But that's the easy thing to complain about. And the easy thing (if you can come up with the money) to fix. Picking the right coach who can win (and win with integrity) at Rutgers is near mission impossible.

 

[Dpgru]

I think most RU fans agree with this but the trolls know that RU fans are also insecure about, well, just about everything so they love starting a lot of crap about Ash and the program. I am trying to learn to ignore them. I think this piece by Kratch is a very good description of where we are right now and where we are going.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

On facilities. Found this interesting:
"The second thing fans need to keep in mind: Did you know Georgia – which just came about as close to winning a national title as you can without winning it – hasn’t updated its weight room in decades and just got its first indoor facility in 2017? And Miami just got its first indoor facility this year? I think those programs have been able to do OK for themselves. And on the other hand, Kansas has glistening facilities, with more on the way, and they are a national laughingstock. The point is, facilities certainly help, and they have to be stressed. But they aren’t a panacea if you have great ones, and they don’t have to be an excuse if you don’t."

Facilities are great, but at the end of the day, it's the athletes that make the difference. I've read post after post from posters like rutgersAl say it's facilities that are holding Rutgers back and we are the laughingstock of football. His other team Miami didn't seem to have a problem winning while playing in a rundown Orange Bowl or lacking other "IMPORTANT" facilities. Results on the field are the most important thing in building a good solid program.

 

[koleszar]

But that's the easy thing to complain about. And the easy thing (if you can come up with the money) to fix. Picking the right coach who can win (and win with integrity) at Rutgers is near mission impossible.

Wait, so you don't think if we had $5 mil. at our disposal to find a coach we wouldn't be able to find one? You do know we pay the least in the league for our head coach, right? Open up the check book and your list of candidates becomes vast. Close it and your stuck with retreads, coordinators and lightning in a bottle. Our problem has always been the budget allocated for coaching searches.

 

[Knight Shift]

Facilities are great, but at the end of the day, it's the athletes that make the difference. I've read post after post from posters like rutgersAl say it's facilities that are holding Rutgers back and we are the laughingstock of football. His other team Miami didn't seem to have a problem winning while playing in a rundown Orange Bowl or lacking other "IMPORTANT" facilities. Results on the field are the most important thing in building a good solid program.

I will take your word for it 100 times over someone like rutgersAl. Nothing against him. I understand you played the game, and you get it. Some of us here just can guess and prognosticate.

 

[RUaMoose]

He’s FOS when he says 2 wins in 2016 was expected. I distinctly remember the season prediction thread that year and most predicted anywhere from 4 to 7 wins . Now in retrospect was that overly optimistic, sure. But stating 2 wins was expected back in the summer of ‘16 is history revision

 

[Knight Shift]

He’s FOS when he says 2 wins in 2016 was expected. I distinctly remember the season prediction thread that year and most predicted anywhere from 4 to 7 wins . Now in retrospect was that overly optimistic, sure. But stating 2 wins was expected back in the summer of ‘16 is history revision

Yeah, there is some hindsight reconstruction going on there.
I was guilty of expecting big things because of what DM did at James Madison, but IIRC, he had a stud QB transfer from Georgia Tech. Our QB situation was worse than JMU, and that was not on DM or Chris Ash. Sure, RU/Chris Ash/DM whiffed on Tylin Oden, but I think he was a last minute pickup in a class that did not have a QB. Heck, some of us were excited by what Oden did against Howard.

That fizzled pretty fast, mainly after RU lost Janarion Grant in the Iowa game. A QB who could not throw real well, a porous OL, no major running threat--recipe for disaster for the rest of the season.

 

[tico brown]

I'm in the opinion that even if Chris Ash did what no one ever did at Rutgers and win a national title, there still will be some here who will have crap to say like GOLDEN WOULNDT HAVE ALLOWED POINTS WITH THIS TEAM or SCHIANO WOULDVE FARTED LIGHTNING VS MICHIGAN AND STRUCK HARBAUGH DOWN.

I also said that Rutgers had to be patient. As patient as they were with Schiano or as Va Tech was when Beamer first started. 5 wins in 18... good. 4 or less wins in 18... not good.

Simple.

 

[Knight Shift]

I'm in the opinion that even if Chris Ash did what no one ever did at Rutgers and win a national title, there still will be some here who will have crap to say like GOLDEN WOULNDT HAVE ALLOWED POINTS WITH THIS TEAM or SCHIANO WOULDVE FARTED LIGHTNING VS MICHIGAN AND STRUCK HARBAUGH DOWN.

I also said that Rutgers had to be patient. As patient as they were with Schiano or as Va Tech was when Beamer first started. 5 wins in 18... good. 4 or less wins in 18... not good.

Simple.

If Ash does not fart lightning, he should be gone. . . Got it.

 

[newwavedave1]

On facilities. Found this interesting:
"The second thing fans need to keep in mind: Did you know Georgia – which just came about as close to winning a national title as you can without winning it – hasn’t updated its weight room in decades and just got its first indoor facility in 2017? And Miami just got its first indoor facility this year? I think those programs have been able to do OK for themselves. And on the other hand, Kansas has glistening facilities, with more on the way, and they are a national laughingstock. The point is, facilities certainly help, and they have to be stressed. But they aren’t a panacea if you have great ones, and they don’t have to be an excuse if you don’t."

Rutgers is also a laughingstock outside of the bubble that is New Jersey. Believe me, I interact with a lot of fans in my area and you wouldn't believe how low the opinion is of RU and N.J. Sad, but true.

 

[Knight Shift]

Rutgers is also a laughingstock outside of the bubble that is New Jersey. Believe me, I interact with a lot of fans in my area and you wouldn't believe how low the opinion is of RU and N.J. Sad, but true.

Thanks for sharing. That's not my experience. Hope you do something to dispel the misinformation.

 

[MADHAT1]

I'm in the opinion that even if Chris Ash did what no one ever did at Rutgers and win a national title, there still will be some here who will have crap to say like GOLDEN WOULNDT HAVE ALLOWED POINTS WITH THIS TEAM or SCHIANO WOULDVE FARTED LIGHTNING VS MICHIGAN AND STRUCK HARBAUGH DOWN.

I also said that Rutgers had to be patient. As patient as they were with Schiano or as Va Tech was when Beamer first started. 5 wins in 18... good. 4 or less wins in 18... not good.

Simple.

Rutgers needs to show progress towards becoming a good program every year.
Wins at first can't be considered the main factor, it's how competitive Rutgers is against the best of B1G and playing them closer every year until RU is considered good enough to beat them without it being considered a major upset. That and RU winning against the B1G bottom feeders easily along with proving to be better than the middle of pack under Ash.
By the end of his 4th year Ash should be able to show he's making RU into that type of program.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Rutgers is also a laughingstock outside of the bubble that is New Jersey. Believe me, I interact with a lot of fans in my area and you wouldn't believe how low the opinion is of RU and N.J. Sad, but true.

That may be your experience, but it doesn't mean most of us have experienced the same thing. First, most fans from different schools seldom know what other schools have as far as facilities other than what is mentioned by the media (occasionally) or mock by its own fans. Example: I bet most of the posters here didn't know Syracuse built a new indoor practice facility. Most here were going on the fact SU still lacked an indoor practice area and in 6 months most will forget. How many here knew Georgia's weight room is dated? NJ/Rutgers fans do more to mock Rutgers than opposing fans. They take what some of us say and run with it. I'm tired of hearing how Rutgers sucked since Coach Burns was last here. Anderson and Graber didn't have great teams, but they fielded respectable teams with a few winning records. It was Shea who stunk up the place and somehow his lack of success has translated to all of the 80s and 90s. We Rutgers fans have set the narrative for fans from other schools to mock us. FYI: the people I know people in Colorado and California who think Rutgers has quality facilities and a strong reputation. The only idiots I can think of who you might interact are the ones who will continue to think lowly of Rutgers no matter what.

 

[RUSK97]

Rutgers is also a laughingstock outside of the bubble that is New Jersey. Believe me, I interact with a lot of fans in my area and you wouldn't believe how low the opinion is of RU and N.J. Sad, but true.

What area is that?

 

[RU#1fan]

What area is that?

Crappy Valley ?????

 

[RUaMoose]

Yeah, there is some hindsight reconstruction going on there.
I was guilty of expecting big things because of what DM did at James Madison, but IIRC, he had a stud QB transfer from Georgia Tech. Our QB situation was worse than JMU, and that was not on DM or Chris Ash. Sure, RU/Chris Ash/DM whiffed on Tylin Oden, but I think he was a last minute pickup in a class that did not have a QB. Heck, some of us were excited by what Oden did against Howard.

That fizzled pretty fast, mainly after RU lost Janarion Grant in the Iowa game. A QB who could not throw real well, a porous OL, no major running threat--recipe for disaster for the rest of the season.

Also midnight protein bars, hydration and big Dave Parker from OSU driving S&C. There was plenty of optimism

 

[Knight Shift]

Also midnight protein bars, hydration and big Dave Parker from OSU driving S&C. There was plenty of optimism

Some of us (me included) were expecting too much too soon.

 

[Scarlet_Monster]

Yeah, there is some hindsight reconstruction going on there.
I was guilty of expecting big things because of what DM did at James Madison, but IIRC, he had a stud QB transfer from Georgia Tech. Our QB situation was worse than JMU, and that was not on DM or Chris Ash. Sure, RU/Chris Ash/DM whiffed on Tylin Oden, but I think he was a last minute pickup in a class that did not have a QB. Heck, some of us were excited by what Oden did against Howard.

That fizzled pretty fast, mainly after RU lost Janarion Grant in the Iowa game. A QB who could not throw real well, a porous OL, no major running threat--recipe for disaster for the rest of the season.

It doesn't help that Ash and his Coaching Staff had no idea how to take advantage of the players they actually had. Let's run smoke and bubble screens with Agudosi who is 6'6 and takes slow but massive strides to get up to speed and having 2 tiny WRs in Harris and Hayek attempt to block for him.

 

[Knight Shift]

It doesn't help that Ash and his Coaching Staff had no idea how to take advantage of the players they actually had. Let's run smoke and bubble screens with Agudosi who is 6'6 and takes slow but massive strides to get up to speed and having 2 tiny WRs in Harris and Hayek attempt to block for him.

Didn't help. That's over. Freshman errors of a freshman head coach. Shall we rehash the freshman errors of other coaches who were head coaches for the first time. Mistakes were made, he learned, we move forward.

 

[read option]

I think the pressure is on Ash now.

Come out of the gate and lose @Kansas, or vs. UB and still at that point try to tell people the program is improving?

Out of the first 8 games 6 or 7 are winnable. Go 4-4 and then get slaughtered in the final 4 games to finish 4-8 with everyone remembering a 4+ game losing streak to end the year... again, not exactly a sign of an improved program or hope on the horizon.

Bottom line: we need to be at least 4-2 after the first 6 games against this schedule (and that’s saying we lose at home to either IU or ILL), and beat either @md or vs. NW and I think people could live with that and a 5-7 season. Although it would be hard to swallow a 5-3 start, one win from Bowl eligibility, and a 5-7 finish, against the gauntlet we have to close out the season, any reasonable fan would feel good about what we accomplished. But 4-8 is not acceptable and Ash should be looking over his should into 2019.

 

[sct1111]

It doesn't help that Ash and his Coaching Staff had no idea how to take advantage of the players they actually had. Let's run smoke and bubble screens with Agudosi who is 6'6 and takes slow but massive strides to get up to speed and having 2 tiny WRs in Harris and Hayek attempt to block for him.

Hayek and Agudosi never played on the same team together but yeah the play calling has been a bit of a headscratcher sometimes. We didn't really put the ball in our playmakers hands unless you mean hand it off to them predictably over and over and over.

 

[newwavedave1]

What area is that?

Moved from Hackettstown toWenatchee, Washington in 1994. It's mostly Husky fans. They also look down their noses at the Cougs. When I first moved here, most thought RU was a small private college or an Ivy League school located who knows where.

 

[tico brown]

It doesn't help that Ash and his Coaching Staff had no idea how to take advantage of the players they actually had. Let's run smoke and bubble screens with Agudosi who is 6'6 and takes slow but massive strides to get up to speed and having 2 tiny WRs in Harris and Hayek attempt to block for him.

Yeah because Schiano was perfect his first year as head coach.

 

[RUSK97]

Moved from Hackettstown toWenatchee, Washington in 1994. It's mostly Husky fans. They also look down their noses at the Cougs. When I first moved here, most thought RU was a small private college or an Ivy League school located who knows where.

Well yeah, that kinda explains it. Despite the fact that their program struggled for quite some time, they’ve rejoined the national conversation and beaten RU like a drum.

 

[AshHeap]

I think the pressure is on Ash now.

Come out of the gate and lose @Kansas, or vs. UB and still at that point try to tell people the program is improving?

Out of the first 8 games 6 or 7 are winnable. Go 4-4 and then get slaughtered in the final 4 games to finish 4-8 with everyone remembering a 4+ game losing streak to end the year... again, not exactly a sign of an improved program or hope on the horizon.

Bottom line: we need to be at least 4-2 after the first 6 games against this schedule (and that’s saying we lose at home to either IU or ILL), and beat either @md or vs. NW and I think people could live with that and a 5-7 season. Although it would be hard to swallow a 5-3 start, one win from Bowl eligibility, and a 5-7 finish, against the gauntlet we have to close out the season, any reasonable fan would feel good about what we accomplished. But 4-8 is not acceptable and Ash should be looking over his should into 2019.

Good post, 100% agree.

Ash is gone if we have another 4-8 season filled with blowouts. Many of the same fans defending him now would be demanding it, too.

 

[tico brown]

Good post, 100% agree.

Ash is gone if we have another 4-8 season filled with blowouts. Many of the same fans defending him now would be demanding it, too.

Who do you want to replace Ash with?

 

[newwavedave1]

Well yeah, that kinda explains it. Despite the fact that their program struggled for quite some time, they’ve rejoined the national conversation and beaten RU like a drum.

They thought of themselves as one of College Football's elite, even when they were struggling. I guess one National Championship will do that, even though it was years ago.

 

[AshHeap]

Who do you want to replace Ash with?

Greg Schiano

 

[mikebal9]

Good post, 100% agree.

Ash is gone if we have another 4-8 season filled with blowouts. Many of the same fans defending him now would be demanding it, too.

I would bet good money that he wouldn't be fired after a 4-8 season. Care to wager?

 

[RU4Real]

Greg Schiano

[roll]

 

[Knight Shift]

[roll]

hydrangeas, dude.

 

[rurichdog]

Greg Schiano

And with that, I'm out of this thread.
[laughing]

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

Good night nurse!

 

[ZMR512]

Good post, 100% agree.

Ash is gone if we have another 4-8 season filled with blowouts. Many of the same fans defending him now would be demanding it, too.

I'll take that bet.

 

[bigmatt718]

Greg Schiano

You're an Ash clown.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Wait, so you don't think if we had $5 mil. at our disposal to find a coach we wouldn't be able to find one? You do know we pay the least in the league for our head coach, right? Open up the check book and your list of candidates becomes vast. Close it and your stuck with retreads, coordinators and lightning in a bottle. Our problem has always been the budget allocated for coaching searches.

The coaches worthy of that compensation are going to go to better situations than rutgers generally. The list of proven candidates would not be vast by any stretch.

 

[Knight Shift]

You're an Ash clown.

Would love to know why @Richard Schnyderite and the moderators tolerate this troll. Screen name is an insult to the head coach. Nothing but negativity in the posts. The Ash Heap thread gets deleted, yet this idiot remains posting drivel and hatred. Don't get it.