Rutgers has fired Chris Ash
September 29th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
good for campaniles brother. he knows NJ and seems like a good fit for interim duties
September 29th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
His brother is our Coach Campanile. Not sure if Nunzio should be thanking Tony or be mad at him for making hin Rutgers HC
September 29th, 2019 at 2:22 PM ^
They're promoting the tight ends coach? There is no one more plausible on staff than that?
September 29th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
Well they also fired the OC. Their DC has only been there for 4 games so there’s no familiarity with the players/programs yet.
Campanile is from New Jersey, built a powerhouse high school program, and has been at Rutgers a couple years. He might be able to parlay that into at least holding together the recruiting class.
September 29th, 2019 at 3:06 PM ^
Yes, but they fired the OC as well.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
This will no doubt fix everything for the rest of the year.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
I'm worried about what this will do to the rivalry
September 29th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
You know what's coming next.
-The team will continue to suck (because Rutgers)
-The players will rally around the interim guy because that always happens. Maybe they even win a game somewhere.
-At season's end a bunch of guys will threaten to transfer if he doesn't get the permanent job
-He will get the job and be offered an insane contract with a huge buyout, despite no competing interest from any other school (because Rutgers)
-Summer 2020: "We're going to fence the Garden!"
Rinse and repeat.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
The guy won only 4 games Big 10 games in 4 years.
Against 2017 Illinois (2-10), 2017 Purdue (7-6) and 2017 Maryland (4-8).
Rutgers is a tire fire of an athletic program.
They are not good at anything in sports. They should be jettisoned from the Big Ten post haste.
Give us Iowa State instead.
At least Iowa State Midwest, are geographically easy to get to (between Iowa City and Lincoln), have a Big Ten rivalry baked in (vs. Iowa), and frequently have a decent basketball team.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Rutgers is good at Wrestling, Men's Lacrosse and Women's Field Hockey. They used to be good at Women's Soccer.
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/rutgers-university-new-brunswick/student-life/sports/
September 29th, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
They also used to have a really good rowing program, with several alums winning world championships.
October 1st, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
Rutgers, the school that gave the United States Women's National Soccer Team Carli Lloyd, also once (2007) was very good at women's basketball.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^
The Big Ten made an exception for Nebraska being a semi-community college attached to a football program.
Rutgers is still a good academic institution. Iowa St checks 0 boxes academically and has no football tradition to fallback on like Nebraska.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
I mean, I sort of figured that Ash's day would come after what is going to likely be another shitty season, not when they are only a third of the way through a shitty season.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
The revenge tour is complete.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
There goes our rivalry
September 29th, 2019 at 2:37 PM ^
It looks like Rutgers tried the Illinois approach of taking a second tier OSU position coach and getting mediocre results. Maybe Rutgers can follow Phase II of the Illinois plan and hire Todd Bowles?
September 29th, 2019 at 2:48 PM ^
Ron Zook is tan, rested, and ready.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:46 PM ^
He was 8 - 32.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:47 PM ^
Anyone who takes the Rutgers job needs their head checked
September 29th, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
Hell I’ll do it. $2 million per year and now Ash is getting almost $9 million in his buyout? Sign me up.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:49 PM ^
Partridge would be an interesting play here.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:57 PM ^
That’d be a stretch to go after a position coach with zero coordinator experience, let alone head coaching experience. A more likely scenario would be someone like Schiano getting the job and then bringing Partridge in as a DC.
September 29th, 2019 at 3:24 PM ^
Rutgers is a really tough job and especially for someone with no HC experience. They need someone with experience and success developing a program with an identity. Someone who can recruit for his system can get some talent at Rutgers. They need to look at schools like Wisconsin for a model.
Hiring someone like Partridge makes sense for geography, but would likely be a disaster for both parties. Ash made good money, but he's much further away from a HC job than he was at OSU.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:54 PM ^
It’s the right decision. Rutgers isn’t even remotely competitive. You need to make a change just for changes sake. A new voice will help that program
September 29th, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^
Seems like odd timing. I mean you kept him around after going 1-11. Giving him 4 games, including two against ranked teams, seems like an odd time to let the guy go. I mean you brought him back after 1-11, you may as well let him finish the year out. Save yourself a bit of that $9+ million buyout they’re now hooked into paying Ash and McNulty.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
Part of the buyout is his remaining salary for this season. They wouldn't save anything by firing him at the end of the season. Not unless they're going to pay a new HC before then.
September 29th, 2019 at 11:29 PM ^
I would assume any interim positions come with a pay increase. They also fired their OC and have promoted two analysts to assistant positions. That’s two buyouts and three pay increases. The analysts for certain would be in line for pay increases (it’d be a steal getting two offensive assistants for ~$50k). I doubt you get an interim coach for $250k. Some sort of pay increase should follow a significantly increased workload that also includes playcalling duties.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:57 PM ^
You lost to Michigan 52-0???!
Yeah, you’re fired.
September 29th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
Surprised they didn’t give him the full season, but I suppose they had to know how the rest of this season was going to go with him at the helm.
If I’m the AD, I go balls to the wall to bring Schiano back. If they bring in some hotshot who works out, he won’t be in town longer than 2-3 years. Or it could all go belly up like it did with Ash. With Schiano, you bring in someone who is proven at the HC level, and proven at that school no less. Schiano has an emotional connection to Rutgers, and I bet bringing him back brings a big increase in season ticket sales. You’d also get someone on the the back end of his career who you might be able to convince to stay until he retires. He won’t try going back to the NFL after his disaster in Tampa.
He’d never win the Big Ten, but he’d make them a respectable program every year, good for 7-8 wins, and one that would score some upsets every now and again. With being in the division that they’re in, that’s the most Rutgers could ever ask for.
September 29th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
7-8 wins? Could you list them?
I mean, they're not allowed to schedule themselves are they?
September 29th, 2019 at 6:30 PM ^
Yes but they go by the name of Kansas.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^
There is no path for Rutgers to get to 7-8 wins with 9 Big 10 games a year. They had success when the Big East basically became Conference USA. Of course, that's ultimately their issue. They're a MAC/C-USA level football program that just happens to be near NYC. If Piscataway was 100 south, Rutgers would be in the MAC where it belongs.
September 29th, 2019 at 3:07 PM ^
Expected, but at the end of the year... a little surprised you'd do this in the first part of the year.
Rutgers is a tough program to turn around, especially now that it has to play a B1G regular season schedule... If you are a top assistant, I'd probably wait for a better program.
Guys like Schiano or Leavitt might be looking for a chance to reboot their HC aspirations anywhere
September 29th, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
That sucks.
September 29th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
He should have been fired when he invited Meyer to recruit in NJ to counter UM.
September 29th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
So head coaches can be fired during the season for underperforming. Hugh.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
Not happy with the Korean National Fubol coach, eh?
September 29th, 2019 at 6:35 PM ^
Freeze? No i think he was at the end of the season.
September 29th, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
Wow, I was just having this conversation with someone and we both agreed that he's probably got a lot of leash because, who they going to get?
September 29th, 2019 at 5:00 PM ^
Apparently, respect for Michigan is so low now that getting blasted by UM is UNACCEPTABLE even for Rutgers and warrants an in season firing.
September 29th, 2019 at 5:03 PM ^
Can't say that wasn't well deserved, but he's probably actually happy. Will get paid 8+ million to not have to coach in a God awful program.
September 29th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
Laughing all the way to the bank.
September 29th, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^
I'm not sure if it's a good sign or a bad sign when teams are firing their coaches because they lost to us.
September 29th, 2019 at 5:41 PM ^
And you're one of those people who compare Michigan getting Jim Harbaugh, an alum and star QB. Also born and with a NFL playing career in the midwest.
With Lincoln Riley, who is at a Power 5 football school, and has no ties whatsoever to Michigan or the midwest?
Michigan can offer Riley $10M/year, he's not leaving Oklahoma. It makes no sense for him to leave for anything other than the NFL.
Riley and Harbaugh to Michigan aren't even close to realistic.
Chris Petersen isn't coming either.
Your best bet is Campbell, Aranda, a Clemson Coordinator...maybe Huepel if you really want to go Air Raid/Spread.
September 29th, 2019 at 8:57 PM ^
Where did this comment come from? And what are you talking about?
September 29th, 2019 at 6:12 PM ^
they should hire Jeff Monken, but they’ll probably hire Greg Schiano.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:16 PM ^
You’re next, Ferentz!
September 29th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
I don't know how Chris Ash took the news, but I do know for a fact that he looked like he was going to start crying.
It's actually all sorts of weird that they decided to fire him during a bye week, after they got blown out at Iowa..then sat on that for two weeks. When did they plan to tell people? How did that not become 'common knowledge' gossip around the program? Why would you let the coaches and players go through a charade for multiple games? The real problem at Rutgers isn't Chris Ash, it's that it's a glorified commuter school with a bush league athletics department.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
I'm sure another Ohio state defensive coordinator is the way to go here. Schiano leaving the Patriots, which he left the Buckeyes for, for Rutgers is a huge step up. They'll be back to their glory days in no time.