COLUMBUS, Ohio — A member of the Ohio State football team's support staff made several trips to Chris Ash's office on Thursday afternoon, gathering cardboard boxes and loading them into the coach's Honda Accord in the parking lot of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

The boxes mostly contained binders that Ash has accumulated throughout his career as an assistant coach, including the past two years as the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State. Ash is taking the binders — and everything he has learned during 19 years as an assistant — to his new job as Rutgers' head coach.

But not everything from Ash's office has been packed, and he hasn't completely cut ties with Ohio State. Ash, who was hired by Rutgers on Dec. 5, is pulling double duty by remaining with the Buckeyes through their matchup with Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1.

"It's been a challenge," Ash said from his desk that is now surrounded by mostly bare shelves. "I can't lie about that, but it's been fun. I've enjoyed it."

Ash met exclusively with NJ Advance Media on Thursday to provide an inside look at how he is juggling his responsibilities as Rutgers' head coach and Ohio State's defensive coordinator.

4:30 a.m.: ALARM CLOCK GOES OFF

Ash lives in Dublin, a suburb northwest of Columbus — a "17-minute drive" from his office. Ash lives with his second wife, Doreen, their infant son Brady and Ash's 14-year-old son, Tanner, from his first marriage. Ash's 12-year-old daughter, Jacey, lives with his ex-wife in Iowa.

"We talk every day on the phone and she's a Rutgers fan already," Ash says of Jacey.

Ash and Doreen met while he was an assistant at Wisconsin from 2010-12 and they got married in the summer of 2014. This will be the third time they've moved after brief stops at Arkansas and Ohio State. Doreen will fly to New Jersey on Sunday to begin the search for the family's new home.

"She's awesome and she's all over it," Ash says. "It's not the first time we've done this, so we kind of know the routine."

5:30 a.m.: ARRIVE AT WOODY HAYES ATHLETIC CENTER

Ash spends the first hour and a half of his day in his office at Ohio State working exclusively on Rutgers-related tasks.

"Emails, returning calls, recruiting stuff, evaluating recruits, doing stuff on Twitter with recruits," Ash says. "Whatever needs to be done, I'm doing it first thing when I get into the office."

7:15 a.m.: GAME PLAN MEETINGS

Ash has spent this week putting together the bowl game plan for Ohio State's defense, which ranks second nationally in points allowed. Meetings with the rest of the coaching staff occupy most of Ash's morning, but he manages to handle Rutgers business whenever he has a moment.

"Periodically we'll take some minor breaks throughout the morning. If I get a 10-to 15-minute break, I'm returning calls or making calls," Ash says. "If it's a really important call — a recruit or coach that I've been trying like heck to get a hold of that I haven't been able to — I'll step out and I'll take it."

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While many assistants leave immediately after getting a head coaching job, Ash has been on staffs three different times when a colleague successfully pulled double duty. The most notable example is Tom Herman, who remained as Ohio State's offensive coordinator through the team's national championship run last season before taking over full-time as Houston's head coach.

"Obviously, it didn't hurt him," Ash says. "He ended up winning 12 games this year."

Ash says the decision to stick with Ohio State through its bowl game was made after a meeting with head coach Urban Meyer.

"If Coach Meyer would have said, 'Hey, you got a new job, we'll be OK, go on and start your work,' I would have done that," Ash says. "But he asked me to do this. And when he did, there was really no negotiating. If he wants me to finish, then I owe that to him because I wouldn't even get this opportunity if it wasn't for him."

"I've talked to some players on the phone and had a team meeting already, but it's going to be an opportunity to get a chance to meet with some players in person for the first time," Ash says. "I've still got to meet with academics some more, getting ready for the next semester. I've got to still try to get some coaches hired. There will be some (assistant candidates) that hopefully I'll get a chance to meet with on campus when I get there. Recruiting, getting things set up for the next semester, getting coaches hired, academic stuff — that's really what my agenda is for a few days out there."

Those few days will be the first time since his hiring that Ash won't divide his focus.

"When I go there next week, there is no Ohio State thought," Ash says. "It's all Rutgers."

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6 p.m.: DINNER

Coaches wrap up their meetings around 6 p.m. on days with no practice. Ash will grab a quick bite to eat and then head back to his office.

"From 6:30 until about 8:30, I'm here in the office making calls and doing (Rutgers) stuff," Ash says.

9 p.m. RETURN HOME

About 16 hours after he left for work, Ash returns home.

"I'll go home, kiss my wife and hug my boy and make a few more calls and finally shut it down around 10," Ash says.

"Shut it down" is a relative term. Ash doesn't call recruits after 10 p.m., but he still has about two hours of work remaining.

"I may be on the phone with a coach that I need to talk to that I'm trying to hire," Ash says.

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Ash has only hired two assistants since taking over as head coach: Offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer and special teams coordinator Vince Okruch. Ash says he's "currently talking to several people about the defensive coordinator position."

Once a defensive coordinator is hired, the rest of the staff should fall into place. The process has been delayed because some of the coaches Ash is targeting are currently on the staffs of bowl teams or NFL teams. While some hires, including a strength and conditioning coach, could be finalized in the coming days, Ash is confident that the full staff of nine assistants will be in place by the end of the bowl season.

Ash doesn't believe recruiting has been hindered by not having a full staff.

"Not at all. By the time I was hired and finalized, there were four days to go out and recruit," Ash says. "Nobody was going to commit to us in those four days because we didn't have a staff together. I could do just as much work on the phone as I could going out. I can only go see people one time anyway (due to NCAA rules limiting head coach visits with recruits), so I had to be real selective on where I went. But no, it didn't help or hurt having me and just Vince trying to recruit and then Drew."

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12 a.m.: FINISHING TOUCHES

Ash ends the night by taking notes on things he needs to get done the next day and "then I'm laying awake at night in bed thinking about what I have to do the next day." He says he's lucky if he gets four hours of sleep per night.

The long days are nothing new for Ash, who says he keeps a similar schedule during the season. But these days are different and Ash is doing his best to meet the unique challenges presented by his dual roles.

"The biggest challenge is I want to do a good job for Ohio State and these players and putting together a great game plan for Notre Dame. And I also want to do a great job of hiring a staff, communicating with the recruits, trying to build relationships with high schools coaches (at Rutgers)," Ash says. "The biggest challenge is both of them pulling at you and which one do I need to devote more time to? Because I want to make sure I leave the right way and I want to make sure I start the right way."

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.