By Ryan Dunleavy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

If Rutgers losing to Eastern Michigan was unpredictable, the hot-take reaction was predictable.

A boisterous portion of the fan base took to message boards and social media to express their displeasure with the game plan in the 16-13 upset loss. That's on top of declining attendance.

Coacheshotseat.com lists Rutgers' Chris Ash as No. 6 among college football coaches. BleacherReport.com put him in the crosshairs, too.

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But all of it is jumping the gun.

As NJ Advance Media's Steve Politi wrote earlier this week, Ash, who is 2-12 overall, needs patience -- and the Rutgers brass has it ... even if fans and recruits these days want immediate gratification.

Here are the reasons that Ash should NOT be on the hot seat now:

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

1. It's only been 14 games

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Rutgers' 11-game losing streak is its longest since 1998-99, but there was a major difference between the first 10 as an underdog and the last one against Eastern Michigan as a favorite.

Consider that Rutgers was seven points or less away from beating three bowl teams -- Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana -- in 2016. There's still a realistic chance for an upset Big Ten win or two against the likes of Purdue, Illinois, Indiana and Maryland to offset the upset loss.

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This isn't the Big East, where the in-conference pecking order changed from year-to-year and week-to-week, making upsets more likely. It's going to be a long climb upward -- and 14 games just isn't enough of a measuring stick.

Remember, in a much different time, former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano got a contract extension after going 3-20 in his first two seasons at the helm. Former coach Kyle Flood got his extension early in his third season, after nearly being fired at the end of his second.

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

2. This always was a long-term rebuild talent-wise

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As Rutgers' 2013-15 recruiting classes were depleted -- either with decommits before National Signing Day or dismissals and transfers after arriving on campus -- the talent base that Ash inherited was sub-Big Ten-caliber.

When Ash decided to change the offense from pro-style to spread in 2016, it became an even longer project. To speed up the process and make scores more competitive, he brought in a slew of transfers, which was not part of his original plan.

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One thing that has hurt Rutgers in both seasons of Ash so far is the amount of injuries -- strange considering the amount of resources dedicated to strength and conditioning and nutrition. Ash's staff did a full analysis.

The 2018 and 2019 schedules line up more friendly for bowl eligibility, as Ash starts playing the non-conference opponents that he scheduled rather than those set up by his predecessors.

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3. His 2017 recruiting class was a home run

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Ash's first full recruiting class in 2017 was the program's highest-ranked haul (No. 43 nationally) since 2012.

Most significantly, it featured 17 of New Jersey high school football stars, including two of the top three prospects in wide receiver Bo Melton and offensive lineman Micah Clark, both of whom are from south of Piscataway. The number of decommits was kept relatively low for a 2-10 record.

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Rutgers' in-state recruiting success had fallen off drastically under former coach Kyle Flood, who lost players not just to the likes of Michigan and Penn State but to Temple.

Rutgers' 2018 class of 20 verbal commits is ranked No. 36 nationally by Rivals.com with a strong tri-state area presence.

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4. He cleaned up the program image before penalties were even issued

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This is probably the least talked-about accomplishment of Ash's tenure, but one of the most significant.

Two years ago this week, under Flood, Rutgers had six players arrested and dismissed from the program. That was on the heels of another then-player's arrest months earlier and about a week before it became eight in a four-month span.

And Rutgers was reeling from failed drug tests and Flood's own academic improprieties leading to suspension.

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The NCAA still hasn't handed out penalties for those violations, but Ash and athletics director Pat Hobbs made it so that Rutgers could go to a hearing and show a thorough house-cleaning and a compliant football recruiting ambassador program.

Insiders paint a picture of Ash and his staff as workaholics.

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5. He's getting stuff done (weight room, practice facility)

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Since Ash took over, Rutgers has done $1.65 million worth of renovations to the Hale Center strength and conditioning center and $8 million worth of an overhaul to the Marco Battaglia Practice Complex.

Both projects were nearly fully funded with private donations secured after conversations with Hobbs, Ash and his staff members.

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The lobby of the Hale Center also was remodeled -- and the building is getting closer and closer to becoming football-only as other athletics projects sprout up.

When Schiano and then-athletics director Bob Mulcahy expanded the football stadium with public money, it helped get Rutgers onto the Big Ten radar. But it also cost Mulcahy his job.

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

6. He made a hard self-evaluation

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Ash put together a young coaching staff made up of former colleagues or friends of friends in Year 1. When it didn't work, he realized what was missing and hired two veteran coaches -- offensive coordinator Jerry Kill and running backs coach Lester Erb -- whose resumes did as much talking rather as peer recommendations.

If you think that's an easy adjustment to make, stop and consider how many coaches dig their heels into the ground with a my-way-or-the-highway approach.

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“I feel very confident in myself as a coach and how I’ve coached," Ash said before the 2017 season. "I’ve developed players and I’ve developed units and been part of some of the best defenses in college football. I don’t question my ability to coach one bit.

"What I needed to do was trust the others around me to do what I hired them to do. I didn’t try to do everything, but there were probably times where I tried to do too much. What happens when you try to do too much and multi-task is you water everything down and you are good at nothing. That’s probably the No. 1 thing I learned about myself.”

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Rich Schultz | Getty Images

7. Rutgers made a big investment in him

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Though Rutgers has a recent history of handing out overlapping buyouts for more than one football coach, men's basketball coach and athletic director at a time, that's not smart business. More often than not, it was a forced situation because of scandal.

Ash signed a five-year, $11 million contract in December 2015. Rutgers can't afford to swallow that money while it is still getting a partial share of Big Ten revenue. For comparison's sake, Schiano was making slightly north of $2 million at its max.

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8. Functional athletic departments don't keep making changes

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The most successful athletic departments are marked by stability. Rutgers has had five athletics directors (including twice interim Carl Kirschner) since 2007, three football coaches since 2011 and five men's basketball coaches since 2005.

In his first major move as athletics director, Hobbs hand-picked Ash. Hobbs has had a seemingly magic touch at Rutgers, and, in his prior work, he gave maligned Seton Hall men's basketball coach Kevin Willard an extension. That looks brilliant now that Seton Hall is on course for a third straight NCAA Tournament berth.

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Ryan Dunleavy can be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy.