Chris Ash made some news in understated fashion following Rutgers' loss to Penn State.

When asked what gives him confidence the Scarlet Knights' offense will finally be productive in 2019 after three woeful seasons to start his tenure following Saturday's 20-7 loss to the No. 16-ranked Nittany Lions at HighPoint.com Stadium in Piscataway, Ash rattled off a number of reasons.

Among them: John McNulty will be back as offensive coordinator next year, which counts as a significant statement for a program that has had nine different offensive coordinators in as many seasons.

"We're going to have the same offensive coordinator coming back," Ash said in part. "We're going to be able to work a lot of the same concepts offensively in the off-season instead of installing another new offense, and that's invaluable."

The streak pre-dates Ash - it started with Greg Schiano and continued through the Kyle Flood era - but Ash has had his share of issues too. He hired McNulty in January after last year's offensive coordinator, Jerry Kill, was forced to retire after one year due to health issues. Ash's first offensive coordinator, Drew Mehringer, left for a position at Texas after the 2016 season.

McNulty had previously coached at Rutgers from 2006-08 and was the coordinator who started the streak when he joined the Arizona Cardinals as a wide receivers coach in 2009, starting a decade-long run in the NFL with four different teams before he returned to Rutgers earlier this year.

As long as Ash plans to retain him, it's hard to see McNulty leaving Rutgers on his own accord. McNulty's family moved to New Jersey after he took the job - something it had not done during his most recent NFL stop with the Los Angeles Chargers - and he has two more years left on his contract after this season paying him a combined $1.275 million.

McNulty is scheduled to make $650,000 next season - the highest salary for a coordinator in program history - and he would owe Rutgers a $200,000 buyout were he to break the deal.

James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.