By Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Like any head coach of a college football program, Chris Ash has a wish list for the tools he needs to compete. Flash back to when he was hired as Rutgers coach in December 2015 and Ash remembers what was first on his pecking order.

"It started with the training table, to be able to feed the players the right way,'' the Rutgers second-year coach said. "That nutrition component to what we were doing, the strength room was also very important because the players use it every day. It started with what would impact our current student athletes and impact recruiting first. Those were the three things we identified first.''

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Photo by John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Thanks in large part to the generosity of donors Jeff and Amy Towers, Rutgers was able to complete another significant need on Ash's wish list: an $8.5 million practice field that, he says, ranks second-to-none in college football.

“From the moment (Ash) arrived (he’s) been clear about the tools (he) needed to do that ,’’ Jeff Towers said, “and a significantly upgraded football practice complex was on (his) list.’’

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So what’s next on Ash’s wish list?

“We gotta get a locker room and a training room,’’ he said earlier this week. “The locker room is kind of like the weight room, the players are in there every day. We need to get a new locker room. Kind of like this, we’ve got dreams, we’ve got visions and eventually we’ll put the renderings together and get them out there and see if we can get someone who’s willing to step up and make a difference like Jeff and Amy did.’’

Here are the top 7 items that should be on Ash’s wish list:

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Here is the football practice facility Rutgers built for $8.5M (PHOTOS)

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Q&A with AD Pat Hobbs | 'Everything is now possible at Rutgers'

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Rutgers University

1. Soccer/lacrosse building

There's a reason why breaking ground and eventually building a new facility to accommodate the Rutgers lacrosse and soccer programs is next on AD Pat Hobbs' list.

That’s because the Hale Center renovation that will put the Rutgers football facilities on par with their Big Ten peers is dependent on finding new homes for the men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams.

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Currently, the programs have locker-room and office space inside the Hale Center. Moving them out will allow Rutgers officials to begin the next part the facilities plan, which includes making the Hale Center a football-only facility.

The Lacrosse/Soccer complex, which is expected to include training and equipment spaces for each program, new lounges and meeting rooms, coaching offices, and locker rooms — is expected to cost between $20 and $30 million.

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“Building that facility,'' Hobbs told NJ Advance Media last November, "leaves some space in the Hale Center, where we can do things. So if you care about football, support soccer and lacrosse. That's where it really is about supporting all of our programs.''

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Video by Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Why Rutgers football needs a soccer/lacrosse facility to happen

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ScarletKnights.com

2. Locker room

If you asked both the previous Rutgers coaching regime or ask the current Scarlet Knights coaches, they’d concede that the team’s locker room space can use an upgrade.

We're not talking about a Texas-sized renovation here, but the team could use some more space to accommodate a roster that, in some years, includes 120 or more players. Included in this upgrade would be a player lounge, which builds year-round team chemistry.

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The new locker room for Texas is unreal pic.twitter.com/W0r83enheO — Athlete Swag (@AthleteSwag) August 3, 2017

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Finally, the grass is greener at Rutgers with game-changing new practice facility

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3. Expanded sports medicine facility

There’s a reason why Ash, when the subject of Rutgers’ new practice fields comes up, points to player safety as a key byproduct of the pristine grass surface.

Amenities that improve player safety is a selling point in recruiting and an upgraded sports medicine center — which would include rehab machines and a hydrotherapy suite — is something that would bring Rutgers up to the level of the elite Big Ten football facilities.

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For Rutgers, Marco Battaglia Practice Complex connects past to present

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ScarletKnights.com

4. Expanded academic center

This should be an easy sell whenever Rutgers renovates the Hale Center. The Big Ten is consistently the leading conference in producing Academic All-Americans. As it stands, the Rutgers’ academic center — which is housed in the Hale Center used by all of the athletic program’s 600-plus student-athletes — is adequate.

But this is another area where Rutgers’ amenities could use some upgrading in order to bring it to elite-Big Ten status.

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Talking fundraising, facilities and goals for Rutgers football in 2017

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5. Indoor practice facility

The Rutgers website touts the Indoor Practice and Conditioning Facility — a.k.a. the Bubble — as "the nation's largest air-supported indoor structure.''

That's a lovely way of saying it's not permanent, which means it's prone to major snowstorms and other severe-weather events. If you're wondering why this is important, consider Maryland — a Big Ten recruiting rival — just built a $45 million indoor practice facility as part of its $155 million facilities renovation. And the Terps received some praise for it.

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Well done with the new Cole Field House, @TerpsFootball. 👏 First full practice inside the facility! pic.twitter.com/5Fnwaunwjf — Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 7, 2017

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What do Rutgers' top recruiting targets think of the new practice facilities?

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Photo by Chris Faytok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

6. Completing the south end zone

When Rutgers officials announced an athletics facilities concept as part of its 2015 strategic master plan, there were plans to convert the open space under the High Point Solutions Stadium south end zone bleachers into indoor facilities for some of the Olympic Sports teams. That concept has been shelved, but the bowels of the south end zone remain unfinished.

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There’s been talk of building visiting and game-day home locker rooms below the south end zone bleachers, and this would come in handy considering Rutgers is one of just two Big Ten programs where both the home and visiting teams use the same tunnel to get to the locker room at halftime.

But this renovation is a long way off. A Rutgers official told NJ Advance Media earlier this week that a locker room build-out of the south end zone would cost between $40 and $50 million.

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7. Upgrades in High Point Solutions Stadium

Greg Schiano once had a vision of expanding Rutgers Stadium to 80,000 seats. Based on the program’s struggles to consistently top 50,000 these days, that’s probably not going to happen.

But that doesn’t mean High Point Solutions Stadium can’t receive some upgrades over the next decade.

How about a scoreboard over the north end bleachers?

How about expanding the mezzanine level, moving down the press box and adding private suites across from the Audi Club in order to add new revenue streams for the athletics department?

How about a Hall of Fame component to recognize the program's place in college football lore and its all-time best players?

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What we learned from Week 1 of Rutgers camp

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If these wish-list items sound ambitious, that's because they are. But you better believe that Rutgers officials such as Ash and Hobbs are lobbying their constituents facility upgrades. What Rutgers has built — including the $1.65 million strength and conditioning center privately funded by the Garutti family — is commendable.

But Hobbs isn't about to stop asking donors to give more to the cause.

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"I think facilities like this (practice field) will help remove the doubt that’s existed with the Rutgers faithful about, ‘Can you get things done?’ '' Hobbs said. "So we did two great strength and conditioning rooms. People say, ‘Okay, that’s good, but they’re strength and conditioning areas.’ Now you come and look at these practice field areas and say, ‘Whoa, that’s a big step up’ in what they did there. And in the fall everybody is going to start to see the RWJ Barnabas Athletic Performance Center coming out of the ground and, I think, that should forever kill the (question of) ‘Can we ever get it done?'

"We're getting it done.''

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Future of RU Athletics? Hobbs goes to work on strategic plan

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A look at all of Hobbs' notable hires

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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.