Steve Serby sits down for some Q&A with new Rutgers coach Chris Ash.

Q: What do you want the on-field personality of your team to be from Day 1?

A: I want us to be relentless in our effort. I want us to be a tough, hard-nosed football team that plays four quarters, plays with energy and juice and people can tell we love each other and play for each other.

Q: What would be a successful season for Rutgers?

A: For me, it’s not about wins and losses. A success for me would be that we accomplished creating the type of vision that I want our football team to look like; [to] have an identity and a personality when we’re out there playing. That we’re playing our best football at the end of the year, we just kept getting better as the season went on.

Q: Why are you the right man for this job?

A: I have a plan. I’ve been trained exceptionally well by a number of other head football coaches. I know this league. This is my third team in the Big Ten. I’ve surrounded myself — and before I came here, I knew I could do this — with good people, coaches and support staff. And not afraid of the challenges.

Q: Describe the ideal Chris Ash football player.

A: Competitor. Tough. Passionate about the game. And just a really good teammate.

Q: How would you characterize your motivational style?

A: Constant communication and education about why we want to do certain things, and the rewards that you get for doing them the way we want you to do them. And having a clarity of purpose, being crystal clear about what we want, motivates guys.

Q: What drives you?

A: The joy of success. That feeling of when you win a big game, you’ve had a great season. When you’ve had those moments you felt that, you want to feel it every year, you want to feel it every game. And just always try to find ways to get that feeling as much as you can.

Q: The difference between being The Hunted and The Hunter?

A: I think it’s a lot easier probably to be The Hunter than it is to be The Hunted. Right now we are The Hunter in our league, in the Big Ten. I’ve been at Ohio State when we were The Hunted. When there’s no expectations and nobody expects much of you, I think it’s a lot easier.

Q: What won’t you tolerate?

A: Lack of effort. From everybody. Players in workouts, players in academics, support staff and their roles and their jobs, coaches. The guys that are trying really hard to do a really good job and for some reason it’s not working out, it’s my job to help them. If players or coaches or support staff are lazy, or not giving the effort they need to in their job responsibilities, I have a problem with that.

Q: Do you have rules that are etched in stone?

A: We have what we call a code of conduct, and it’s something I took from my time at Ohio State with Urban Meyer. It’s how we need to behave away from football, it’s honesty, treat women with respect, no drugs, no stealing and no weapons.

Q: Do you have a domestic violence policy per se?

A: It falls in line with that, treat women with respect, and if there’s some issues involved with a female, it’s really non-negotiable. Probably not going to be on our football team.

Q: Do you have a couple of guys who would be on the All-Chris Ash team?

A: Start with Vonn Bell, [who] played for us at Ohio State. You talk about a competitor, you talk about a tough, hard-nosed [player], just a baller, a guy that played with energy and juice and had passion for the game, Vonn Bell did. He was always in my office, like every day, watching NFL film, studying great players in the league, and trying to emulate them on film. Anytime there was a challenge on the football field, Vonn was there to rise up to the occasion to try to go make plays. Pound for pound one of the tougher players I’ve ever been around.

Q: Anybody else?

A: J.J. Watt was on a defense that I was a part of at Wisconsin and Russell Wilson was the quarterback at Wisconsin when I was there. Those two guys were the best two players I’ve ever been around.

Q: You never thought Russell Wilson was too short to star in the NFL?

A: Not based on what I watched every day. Seneca Wallace years ago was a short quarterback that we had at Iowa State that made it in the NFL for a number of years. Russell was his height, but a much better quarterback. Just his intelligence, his intangibles, his leadership ability. … Just off the charts. You talk about top 10 percent elite guys, he’s up in the top one percent.

Q: What was it like defending Odell Beckham Jr. when you were at Arkansas?

A: Scary. Some sleepless nights. Didn’t know that we had anybody that could even come close to covering him. And even if we did, just the acrobatic catches that he could make were so impressive, that you’re like, “Wow, this is one of the best of all time.”

Q: What did you learn about Ben McAdoo when you visited Giants camp?

A: Great personality, very impressive. Welcomed me to the Giants, came out of his way, let me know I could walk around and watch and listen and learn, anything that I wanted to. If I had any questions, I could reach out to him. The most impressive thing, when it was over, I went home, I got a text message that night from him, thanking me for coming to watch their practice and I was welcome to come any time. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me. The fact that he went out of his way to visit with me when I got there, and he went out of his way to send me a text message that night, told me a lot about who he is as a person.

Q: What can you tell Giants fans about Eli Apple?

A: Competitor. Tremendous individual, great personality, very outgoing. But when he puts the helmet on, he’s as highly competitive as there is out there. Just loved the game of football.

Q: What would you tell Jets fans about Darron Lee?

A: A lot of the same (chuckle). Darron Lee is a happy-go-lucky guy, great personality, always has a smile on his face, easy to get along with. But when he puts the helmet on and buckles up, he’s a warrior. He knows how to flip that switch and go to work.

Q: Ezekiel Elliott?

A: Whenever it was time for him to go, whether it’s a one-on-one battle in the weight room or in offseason workouts, no matter how Zeke felt walking in the building, when it was time to go compete, he was going to go compete, and that’s the way it was on game day too.

Q: How do you think he’ll fit in with the Cowboys behind that offensive line?

A: I think it’s probably a perfect fit for him. He’s a big, physical downhill running back, and they got an outstanding offensive line and like to run the ball.

Q: Joey Bosa?

A: Big and strong, physical. Very quick for his size. Relentless pass rusher. When he ends up signing (with the Chargers), he has a chance to be a game-changer.

Q: Taylor Decker?

A: Big, athletic tackle. Great pass protector.

Q: Jalin Marshall?

A: Just an all-around athlete, great hands at receiver, could be a punt returner, kick returner, could have played DB.

Q: Jack Conklin?

A: Tough. Hard-nosed. A dark alley type of guy.

Q: Can Christian Hackenberg make it in the NFL?

A: I think he can. He’s tall, he’s got a strong arm. He went through a lot of transition there at Penn State, and that’s never easy, going from different coaches to different coordinators and offensive systems. I watched him when he was with Bill O’Brien, he had all the tools, it looked like he had the intangibles without being there in that building, knowing exactly how he is, but what we watched on film a lot, it looked like he had everything you’d want in a quarterback.

Q: If you could pick the brain of any football coach in history, whose would you pick?

A: Bill Walsh. I think he was one of the true pioneers of modern-day football. Very intelligent, always had his teams well prepared. Had a culture in the organization of just winning, and doing things the right way.

Q: Who are coaches in other sports you admire?

A: I’ve always been a fan of Phil Jackson. I grew up in an era when the Chicago Bulls were great. His triangle offenses that he was running at the time were on the cutting edge. The training of the mind, getting guys mentally ready to compete, always been impressed with that.

Q: How would you describe your coaching or leadership style?

A: I guess the best way to describe it would be by situational leadership, situational coaching. That means it’s kind of a grab bag. There’s some times to be authoritative and a disciplinarian, there’s a time to, based on how well you know your players, to put an arm around them and love them up. I don’t think there’s a leadership style that is perfect for every single individual or situation, and the great ones know how to adjust to what they’re faced with.

Q: What makes Urban Meyer a great coach?

A: The culture that he’s created. Everybody in the organization is accountable to do their job. I think that’s the No. 1 thing from top to bottom, whether it’s the coordinators down to the equipment managers, everybody has a job to do, and everybody’s held accountable to do their job at a very high standard. And that’s easy to say, but it’s very hard to do in large organizations.

Q: You visited your old Drake teammate Brendan Daly who now is the Patriots defensive line coach?

A: I’ve just been so impressed with the consistency, and Bill Belichick’s been able to perform at a high level. Any time guys do that you always want to try to find out why and how, and I constantly talk to people that are there or have been there and just try to find ways to make myself better.

Q: Eric LeGrand?

A: Unbelievably inspirational. One of the most positive guys I’ve ever been around. Suffered obviously a tragic injury, and he wakes up every day trying to make a difference in others’ lives.

Q: Ray Rice?

A: Obviously another guy who went through some really tough times in his life and his career. He came and spoke to our football team, had a tremendous message. I think he’s taken his setback, his issues that he had in the past, and he’s trying to make a difference in others lives now too, educating them on how to conduct themselves, how to treat women, how to be the best man that they could be.

Q: Who are athletes in other sports you admire?

A: I was always a Michael Jordan fan. Again, you get back to what you asked earlier about what an ideal player is — a competitor, tough, good teammate, makes others around him better — Michael Jordan was that. Michael’s one of the best athletes of all time.

Q: Who was your boyhood idol?

A: I grew up a Joe Montana fan.

Q: Wait a minute, you grew up in the Midwest.

A: I grew up in Iowa, yeah. I was kind of what you call a bandwagon [fan], the 49ers were really good. My first Halloween costume that I ever had was a 49ers outfit.

Q: Did you go to Lambeau Field?

A: No. [Until] I worked at San Diego State and I went to a couple of San Diego Chargers games, I’d never been to an NFL game.

Q: Who are other football coaching influences?

A: Bret Bielema, Barry Alvarez, Dan McCarney when I was at Iowa State years ago. Those are the three that had probably the biggest impact on my life besides my high school coaches.

Q: What kind of high school safety were you?

A: Terrible.

Q: Your wife, Doreen?

A: She gets me. She’s a football person, loves football. Understands football coaches. In particular the goods, the bads, and very supportive, great with other coaches’ wives, great with the players, great recruiting. Anything that you want in a coach’s wife.

Q: Your son Tanner (15)?

A: Right now he’s a video game freak (chuckle). He’s very intelligent, loves to read books, loves military history, and he loves football right now. Hopefully one day he gets to the point where he’ll want to coach.

Q: Your daughter, Jacey (13)?

A: She’s probably the athletic one of those two. She’s in dance, she’s in cheer, she’s run track. She used to be an outstanding gymnastics girl. And tough.

Q: Your son Brady (15 months)?

A: Great personality, always happy, always smiling. I think he’s one that is going to be very charismatic and do well just based on having a great personality.

Q: Favorite childhood memory growing up in Ottumwa, Iowa?

A: (Laugh) There’s this little hamburger place called The Canteen. That was kind of like a big deal to be able to go get a Canteen. It’s a loose meat sandwich place. It was steamed, greasy and very good.

Q: It was that good, huh?

A: Oh, yeah, very good yeah. It’s a tough, blue-collar town, not a lot there. That was kind of an historic place to go and get food.

Q: Are you more like your mom or your dad?

A: Probably my dad. His work ethic. We didn’t grow up with any money, my dad always was working, my dad was an elementary school janitor. Always had to work jobs to try to make money — wash cars, mow yards, painted houses. Just always, always working, and that’s just what he loved to do. That’s what he had to do. I grew up doing that same thing. In this profession as a coach, you work a lot, and you better have a passion for doing what you do, and I get that from my dad, I think.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Bill Walsh, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban. I’d love to have all those guys around the dinner table and be able to talk football with them, just organization, culture, structure, everything that they do to build a football team, and see where we’re at with what we’re doing.

Q: What about Urban Meyer?

A: I know how Urban does business. Honestly, I don’t feel like I’d want Urban to come to the dinner table as a guest, I really feel like a part of his family and I can pick up the phone and call him any time and have a conversation with him. I’d have dinner with those guys, I’d go eat lunch with Urban. Have a beer with Urban.

Q: Why would you want to play for Chris Ash?

A: Because I know that I’m going to be the best that I [can] be.