J.P. Pelzman

@JPPelzman

Minutes before some of Rutgers’ players emerged from the visiting locker room to speak to reporters last Saturday in College Park, Maryland, the University of Maryland marching band walked by on their way out of the stadium.

Unfortunately for Rutgers, it was a fitting sendoff, given the fact that the opposing team’s band almost always had reason to strike up a happy tune when the Scarlet Knights were in town.

But Chris Ash and his staff are ignoring all the outside noise, literal and figurative. The Rutgers football coach and his assistants hit the recruiting trail earlier this week, armed with plenty of things they will try to sell.

Current success isn’t one of those carrots.

The Scarlet Knights closed their first double-digit loss season since 2002 when they lost by 18 points at Maryland last Saturday. But Ash said in a conference call this week that he is staying with the same message as he begins to assemble his second recruiting class.

“It’s being received just like it was when we walked in the door a year ago,” Ash said, referring to the reaction from high school coaches and players. “We have a plan, a vision, good people onboard trying to execute it. It's going to take time and effort, but I think (recruits) have really been believing in our plan and have built great relationships with our coaching staff."

Of course, Ash himself believes strongly in his plan, despite his team’s dismal record this season. Rutgers went 2-1 in its non-conference games and then lost nine consecutive Big Ten contests, the only team in the league to do so this season.

“We go to work every single day making our kids better,” Ash said. “I think we have a very positive building, a very positive program. I don’t listen to negativity out there. I focus on making our players, our program better every single day. I think we’ve built a very solid foundation that I’m excited about moving forward.”

Certainly one thing Ash can offer is potential playing time for true freshman. Yes, the defensive unit could return at least nine players who saw significant time as starters, but there figures to be competition at all positions as Ash tried to improve team speed. Rutgers struggled in that area on offense, defense and special teams in 2016.

“We need to go recruit the kind of speed we need to make some explosive plays on offense consistently,” Ash said. “It can’t be just one guy. It has to be a few guys.”

Ash also knows his team must make progress on the scoreboard and in the won-lost column, or his message won’t be received as well.

“We’re 2-10,” Ash said. “It’s not what anybody wants in a program. I’m not satisfied with that, not happy with that.

“I do believe we've built a team that will compete,” Ash said. “We didn't do that on the scoreboard every week. We got shut out four times and I'm not happy with that at all. But was year one a disappointment or a loss? No, not at all.

“We've done a lot of positive things in this program,” he added. “But on Saturdays, and I get it, as we move forward I'm going to be judged by wins and losses.”

“I have complete faith in our plan,” Ash said, “complete faith in the people we’re surrounding ourselves with. … To build success it takes consistency and continuity. My wish is to have this at Rutgers.”

Ash was asked about what adjustments he has made, going from being Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator in 2015 to being in charge of his own program.

“It's been more about time management and how to handle all the responsibilities of a head coach and how to deal with it,” he said. “I'm a guy involved in Xs and Os to a certain extent and want to continue to be so.”