Politi; The Clock is Ticking on Chris Ash. Article

[BlockR]

so..the first story three games in.year #3. that time may be running out in Ash era.
https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...s_ash_as_rutgers_hits.html#incart_river_index

Nobody wants to hear that now. Nobody wants to get told that they need to be patient after the kind of loss that casts everything about this program in doubt -- and that starts with the head coach.

"We came here. We had a plan," Ash said after his Scarlet Knights cemented their place as the nation's worst Power 5 team. "There are a lot of things that go into turning around a program, and it doesn't happen overnight.



"Sometimes these things take four, five, even six years. I've seen it when I was at Iowa State -- it was our sixth year when we went to a bowl game. We're not trying to wait that long. We want to win as fast as we can. But we want to do it the right way."

He sounded a little like an auctioneer -- five years? do I have six? seven? do I have eight? sold! -- as he rattled through that time frame. But if he really thinks he's getting six years with the way his team performed on Saturday afternoon, he's delusional.

Six years?

 

[MGSA99]

He’s already lost the fan base. It’s over. Now we just wait to run out the clock in his contract until we can afford to replace him.

 

[TonyVolt]

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want Politi to turn it on in terms of pressure to get ridnof Ash.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

What does that accomplish?

People need to calm down. Does it suck that the schoools most high profile program is really down - yes. But c’mon. We all need to take a collective breath.

 

[BlockR]

ash went from setting the bar to getting six wins this year to a six year rebuild ..after three games?
what kind of message does that send?
Politi,who can write crap just to get a reaction alot of times,is right to question Ash after those remarks.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

I don’t disagree -I’m betting he wishes he didn’t make that statement or frankly had to participate in the presser at all.

 

[RUich]

So, we had a plan. As Mike Tyson has said, "everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth".

 

[G- RUnit]

Anyone else think the money and contract argument is classic RU doublespeak?

We have no money but we give out $$$ extensions at the drop of a hat?

We have no money but then we learn about secret payouts to Julie Herman?

 

[MozRU]

Like or hate Politi, he has to write it.

Journalists may have axes to grind, especially PSU alum writing in the area, but journalists would rather a winner than a loser. Reporting on losers doesn't help your career. Not many readers

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Unless you manufacture controversy… The New York/New Jersey press are experts at that - and RU continuously fails to manage the message they want to send.

 

[BoogieKnight]

So, we had a plan. As Mike Tyson has said, "everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth".

No offense, but using that quote when someone's plan goes awry is silly. Should he not have had a plan? Make no mistake I want Ash gone yesterday. I just hate when people throw that Tyson quote out there because it implies that having a plan is meaningless and it's not.

 

[Plum Street]

This clown also wrote a column 10 months ago saying extend ash. Dig it up, it’s there

 

[read option]

This article is way off. We haven’t hit rock bottom YET. Wait for 1-11...

 

[BoogieKnight]

Like or hate Politi, he has to write it.

Journalists may have axes to grind, especially Syracuse alum writing in the area, but journalists would rather a winner than a loser. Reporting on losers doesn't help your career. Not many readers

Changed it. PSU alum have no ax to grind with Rutgers. Well, except for maybe the ones who went around screaming "pedophile enabler" at them. Syracuse on the other hand HATES that we still get players who they feel can help them. They think that they are going to waste at RU and if they just came to Syracuse the Orange would return to their former "glory". In reality, it would take a lot more than the second tier talent RU gets to make Syracuse relevant again especially now that they play in the ACC.

 

[78CollegeAve]

I don’t disagree -I’m betting he wishes he didn’t make that statement or frankly had to participate in the presser at all.

Then he should admit that he shouldn’t be a head coach ... quit ... and take a job somewhere else as a DC. An SEC would probably pay him almost as much as a DC as he makes at Rutgers now and he won’t have to participate in any more post-game pressers. And, of course, the chances of this happening are negative zero times infinity.

 

[BoogieKnight]

Then he should admit that he shouldn’t be a head coach ... quit ... and take a job somewhere else as a DC. An SEC would probably pay him almost as much as a DC as he makes at Rutgers now and he won’t have to participate in any more post-game pressers. And, of course, the chances of this happening are negative zero times infinity.

They are not as low as you may think.

 

[RUich]

No offense, but using that quote when someone's plan goes awry is silly. Should he not have had a plan? Make no mistake I want Ash gone yesterday. I just hate when people throw that Tyson quote out there because it implies that having a plan is meaningless and it's not.

No offense back at you, but I don't think you fully understand the meaning of Mike's quote. Everybody has some kind of plan when they enter a game, the point is what do you do when it is obvious (punched in the mouth) that the plan is not working?
It is the ability to adjust that makes a great player or coach. Many always complained about GS not being a good game coach. It was his perceived inability to adjust or have a plan B if plan A was not working that lead to many losses.
Whatever the hell Ash's "plan" was, it clearly was a bad one! Both our offense and defense failed immediately! Did you see any adjustments being made to stop this? I sure didn't.

 

[Caliknight]

Unless someone air drops $10MM to buy him out, he’s not going anywhere.

 

[RU-05]

No offense, but using that quote when someone's plan goes awry is silly. Should he not have had a plan? Make no mistake I want Ash gone yesterday. I just hate when people throw that Tyson quote out there because it implies that having a plan is meaningless and it's not.

No it implies that a team needs to be able to take a punch, It needs to be able to throw a punch, it needs an ability to adjust.

You can have a plan and still not be ready.

 

[Ronnie_B]

Wasn't Politi just yesterday telling us were stuck with him? So if we're stuck with him, how is he on the clock? Make your mind up.

 

[NotInRHouse]

He's right and the article below about how it's especially pathetic considering how an average team could easily have gotten 7 wins is also correct and especially galling

3 easy OOC wins plus IL and NW at home are gifts and we are squandering them bigly

 

[krup]

Ash saying things could take 5 or 6 years could be forgiven if recruiting was showing that the talent level in the program would improve by then.

Instead, our recruiting looks like things are only getting worse. Nothing about it shows we will have a competitive OL and DL three years from now.

 

[retired711]

so..the first story three games in.year #3. that time may be running out in Ash era.
https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...s_ash_as_rutgers_hits.html#incart_river_index

Nobody wants to hear that now. Nobody wants to get told that they need to be patient after the kind of loss that casts everything about this program in doubt -- and that starts with the head coach.

"We came here. We had a plan," Ash said after his Scarlet Knights cemented their place as the nation's worst Power 5 team. "There are a lot of things that go into turning around a program, and it doesn't happen overnight.



"Sometimes these things take four, five, even six years. I've seen it when I was at Iowa State -- it was our sixth year when we went to a bowl game. We're not trying to wait that long. We want to win as fast as we can. But we want to do it the right way."

He sounded a little like an auctioneer -- five years? do I have six? seven? do I have eight? sold! -- as he rattled through that time frame. But if he really thinks he's getting six years with the way his team performed on Saturday afternoon, he's delusional.

Six years?

I don't think the headline reflects the column. He says at the end that Ash and Rutgers are married (largely because of the $10 million needed to buy Ash out.) So in his view, the clock doesn't seem to be ticking although, he agrees, that's what the fan base wants.

To contribute my two cents, I thought we would probably not beat a Kansas playing at home and fired up from last week's win. I thought the game would hinge on a last-minute Rutgers drive that would be spoiled by a turnover.I never dreamed the game would be a Kansas blowout. I've been a big fan of Ash since he came. But (to put it mildly) I'm starting to wonder. Yes, it may take six years to reach a bowl game; but that's no excuse for a blowout by Kansas in the third year (or any year, for that matter).

 

[krup]

The problem is, for us to reach a bowl game 6 years into Ash’s tenure, the 2018 and 2019 recruiting classes would be the upperclassmen and key contributors. I am not seeing the talent in those classes to get us there.

 

[RUinSD]

He’s already lost the fan base. It’s over. Now we just wait to run out the clock in his contract until we can afford to replace him.

He's lost the team too. For those who saw Bless Austin's LOL tweet and how many current players liked it, that says it all

 

[RUnewjersey]

I’m furious regarding the state of the football program. Because Hobbs committed such a large contract to Ash he won’t be going anywhere any time soon. It’s going to be very hard to listen to Hobbs cover his butt, asking us to be patient while Ash turns things around.

 

[brgRC90]

Welcome to America in 2018 where if you reach the top you've got it made. You can fail miserably, sink a company or stink at head coaching, and still walk away with a gold plated wheelbarrow full of money.

 

[Scarlet Jerry]

If it's a Politi article, I won't read it. The posts on this message board are more informative.

-Scarlet Jerry

 

[Scarlet_Monster]

Hobbs was an idiot if he gave Ash a fully guaranteed contract extension to a coach that hasn't proved anything. There are maybe like 3-5 coaches in the entire country who are worthy of that kind of commitment.

 

[BoroKnight]

Unless you manufacture controversy… The New York/New Jersey press are experts at that - and RU continuously fails to manage the message they want to send.

What would that message be exactly? A 55-14 loss to Kansas is a sign of progress? You can't see it, but we're making strides? And what previous messages? It's OK for a coach to throw basketballs at players heads and call them homophobic names? Going in disguise to influence a professor was a creative use of time? Only some of the students involved in that incident were players?

Win games. Graduate players. Win more games. Then you have a message.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

The financing articles come to mind most directly for me -as for the other issues while RU staff have certainly been guilty of infractions the witch hunt that ensues and the university’s willingness to roll over only emboldens people like Politi.

 

[rutgersguy1]

Hobbs was an idiot if he gave Ash a fully guaranteed contract extension to a coach that hasn't proved anything. There are maybe like 3-5 coaches in the entire country who are worthy of that kind of commitment.

All coaches get it pretty much, that's the convention these days. ADs are patsies for coaches/agents. Even occasionally now you see lump sum payments and no offsets for future employment.

 

[Steve91562]

All coaches get it pretty much, that's the convention these days. ADs are patsies for coaches/agents. Even occasionally now you see lump sum payments and no offsets for future employment.

He was given the extension in year two of a five year contract. No need for recruiting to give such an extension at that time. Hobbs could've and should've waited.

Some posters are writing that it was required by the original contract -- an extension equal to the number of years of NCAA probation. If this is indeed true, then Hobbs is a fool for entering such a contract with an unproven coach. Unreasonable on his part to a very high degree. It's not like Ash was the hottest commodity on the market during that hiring cycle. Jesus, I can't understand how anyone in their right mind would enter such a contract, binding the university to an unproven coach for 7 years. Very foolish, and negligent.

 

[IL Lusciato]

Ash is a loser. He has never been anyplace and made a real impact on a football team. He rode some coattails and now took us for a few mil.

I said wayyyy back and ppl wanted to give me crap for it, but I said that Ash was selling a line that RU was some piece of crap program with a absolutely no recent success in order to set expectations low. I was right .this is the perfect example of him doing just that.

He doesn't know anything about Rutgers or NJ and he has no charisma, vision, or tactical prowess. Get rid of him .

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Unless Ash turns out to be awesome… I think people need to remember that complete dumpster fire he inherited. Not trying to be an apologist but flood’s actions certainly had RU trending towards laughing stock from a national standpoint…

 

[rutgersguy1]

He was given the extension in year two of a five year contract. No need for recruiting to give such an extension at that time. Hobbs could've and should've waited.

Some posters are writing that it was required by the original contract -- an extension equal to the number of years of NCAA probation. If this is indeed true, then Hobbs is a fool for entering such a contract with an unproven coach. Unreasonable on his part to a very high degree. It's not like Ash was the hottest commodity on the market during that hiring cycle. Jesus, I can't understand how anyone in their right mind would enter such a contract, binding the university to an unproven coach for 7 years. Very foolish, and negligent.

Yea and so was Fleck after 1 year only. It happens, specifically it happens often with just the slightest positive sign usually off 1 good year. For Fleck and sometime others it doesn't even take that.

Even off a good year I still wouldn't do it. How do you know if it was fluke or just that things came together. I always want to see some consistency and if a guy wants to leave okay fine goodbye. More times than not, you're not losing anything special. Besides these contracts are barely worth the paper they're written on because coaches still leave so what's the point. I've gone into why I don't buy the recruiting angle of it either.

As to the contract it was required to equal the number of year of probation, I copied a snippet from an article and link to it in one of these threads. I don't like that clause either. We didn't have Miami level infractions so any incoming coach shouldn't have been given that kind of leeway. There had to have been significant scholarship reductions to get that kind of leeway. I'm not even sure Bill Obrien got that kind of thing on his initial contract at PSU but at least there a situation like that could merit it. If a coach wanted that and wouldn't come otherwise, I would have moved on to the next guy.

 

[rutgersguy1]

Unless Ash turns out to be awesome… I think people need to remember that complete dumpster fire he inherited. Not trying to be an apologist but flood’s actions certainly had RU trending towards laughing stock from a national standpoint…

Often new coaches inherit some level of dumpster fire, that's why they've been hired. It's their job to put it out. I think Matt Rhule got 7 years from Baylor and you know I can understand that because that was a big thing that merited it. I don't know that we had anything close to that situation that merited such a long deal IMO.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

The clock will tick faster when fans see how outmatched we will be vs a MAAC team this Saturday

 

[Steve91562]

As to the contract it was required to equal the number of year of probation, I copied a snippet from an article and link to it in one of these threads. I don't like that clause either. We didn't have Miami level infractions so any incoming coach shouldn't have been given that kind of leeway. There had to have been significant scholarship reductions to get that kind of leeway. I'm not even sure Bill Obrien got that kind of thing on his initial contract at PSU but at least there a situation like that could merit it. If a coach wanted that and wouldn't come otherwise, I would have moved on to the next guy.

Lots of times I disagree, but understand how a reasonable person could think otherwise, but on no level does a person with an ounce of sense bind the university to an unproven coach for so long. You can tell Hobbs never practiced law, simple "Law 101" tells you this is a bad idea. Truly it was rushed amateur hour during the hiring process. It really does call into question his judgment. And common sense.

 

[rimsky]

Unless Ash turns out to be awesome… I think people need to remember that complete dumpster fire he inherited. Not trying to be an apologist but flood’s actions certainly had RU trending towards laughing stock from a national standpoint…

Ash did inherit a mess but his hiring of former friends and buddies has been a huge error in judgement. His original OC and the current DC are just friends that are not up to the task.