CHICAGO -- Chris Ash and D.J. Durkin wanted the same thing when hiring assistant coaches, but the two first-time head coaches had completely different ways of making it happen.

In their quest for idea-sharing, Ash favored a synergetic approach at Rutgers based on hiring former colleagues or those highly recommended by his trusted mentors, whereas Durkin surrounded himself at Maryland with multiple former head coaches.

"I like having different opinions," Durkin said at Big Ten media day. "My style is not 'Don't speak up.' We may not do it that way, but I like hearing it and I like thinking things through."

Ash's way is rooted in practices borrowed from Urban Meyer at Ohio State.

"I don't want 'yes men' in our program," Ash said. "I want guys to have thoughts and ideas and help me learn and grow also, but I do want them to do things a certain way."

Durkin initially hired three former head coaches in associate head coach Mike London (Virginia), assistant head coach Pete Lembo (Ball State) and Scott Shafer (Syracuse) to his staff, though Shafer resigned as defensive coordinator during spring camp.

"Anytime somebody has reached the level of head coach obviously they've done a good job of being successful in their own right," Durkin said. "Usually they have good opinions because they've sat in that chair and done it before, so they are good people to bounce ideas off of and listen to."

The irony is that both Durkin and Ash are proteges of Meyer, with Ash coming to Rutgers after two years as defensive coordinator at Ohio State while Durkin worked for Meyer at Bowling Green and Florida.

And yet they came away from their understudy days with starkly different viewpoints.

"I did not ever once consider it," Ash said of hiring an experienced head coach as his right-hand man. "I was given some advice by Urban when I first went to Ohio State: Staff alignment is so important, organizational alignment is so important. I have a way that I want business to be done."

Ash and Durkin make interesting yardsticks for each other as both are staying within the Big Ten East Division but leaving premier programs - Durkin last was defensive coordinator at Michigan - to rebuild the two newest conference members as they come off of disastrous seasons.

Ash went so far in the opposite direction as Durkin that he hired a first-time offensive coordinator (Drew Mehringer), a defensive coordinator new to the Power Five (Jay Niemann) and three position coaches who never had been full-time assistants at the FBS level in assistant defensive backs coach Aaron Henry, running backs coach Zak Kuhr and offensive line coach A.J. Blazek.

"I feel when you hire younger guys, energetic guys, it's easier to get that alignment than it is when hiring older, experienced guys - especially head coaches," Ash said. "Can you gain value from those guys? Absolutely, but everybody manages their organization differently."

Neither Ash, 42, nor Durkin, 38, stumbled into the opportunity where they are now at programs who soon could have a Big Ten rivalry trophy game and are playing a spotlighted game at Yankee Stadium in 2017.

Ash was a copious notes-taker at all of his stops so he could be prepared when his shot came. Durkin never took his eye of the prize, either.

"My career as an assistant, I was always thinking I was going to be a head coach and working toward that," Durkin said.

"You try to put yourself in those shoes and think through how you make a certain decision. It's never quite the same until you actually do it, so anytime you have guys on your staff who actually have done it it's a huge benefit."

Or is it? Only time will tell.

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.