Chris Ash Radio Show Episode 1--Highlights and My Thoughts

Rutgers head coach Chris Ash sat down with radio announcers Chris Carlin and Eric LeGrand for the first installment of The Chris Ash Show, which was broadcast live from Quaker Steak and Lube in Edison, NJ. Also sitting down to chat with the hosts was Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs.  If you're interested, check out the video from the link below:

http://www.scarletknights.com/collegesportslive/?media=535256

Ash spent time discussing the breakdowns on special teams, saying that he was very disappointment because they spent "an insane amount of time" practicing special teams during the week leading up to the Washington game.

Echoing his statements from his postgame press conference, Ash reiterated the progress he thought the team made throughout the contest saying that there was "no quit in our football team."

Eric LeGrand asked about specific players that Ash thought stood out, and the coach talked about Kiy Hester and Janarion Grant. Regarding Darius Hamilton, Ash stated that Hamilton's added strength and weight allowed him to split double teams.

Clearing up one topic of speculation, Ash confirmed that tailback Robert Martin did not play due to his continuing recovery from injury.

Athletic Director Pat Hobbs joined the discussion with his biggest point of emphasis being Rutgers's new Athletics Creed. Basically, the school has put into writing things that should be commonsense and common courtesy, but that people sadly need to be reminded of. That's my opinion, not theirs. If you haven't seen it, here is a copy:

Hobbs mentioned that it will be displayed to people as they enter the stadium. I would assume it will also be put on screen from time to time, and/or printed in the weekly program. I personally think that it should be recited at halftime, as if it were the old Little League Prayer, or something like that. Pull a different student out of the student section each home game, have the student come to midfield to recite the Athletics Creed, give him or her a voucher for 2 hot dogs, a Coke, and some chips, and make a tradition out of it.

One of the impetus's for the Creed was the booing of Chris Laviano. Eric LeGrand mentioned that it reminded him of how Mike Teel was booed in 2008 after the team's 1-5 start. I was a season ticket holder in 2008 and the booing of Teel never sat well with me. As a fan I was frustrated with the start that year as well, but booing a student athlete who doesn't get paid, and may be over 18 but is really in many ways still a kid, is just unethical. It's one thing to dissect the play and point out things that require improvement, but booing is unhelpful, and as Hobbs pointed out, potentially detrimental to recruiting when we're trying to impress high school students. Not only athletes who may be considering Rutgers, even just high quality students who may be considering Rutgers as a school, but are turned off by the negativity.