Rutgers football coach Chris Ash signed an updated five-year contract stretching through the 2022 season, NJ Advance Media has exclusively learned.
Shortly before kickoff of Saturday's season finale, Rutgers reaffirmed its commitment to Ash after improvements in his second year by essentially restarting the clock on his tenure and replacing the original five-year, $11 million agreement signed in December 2015.
The two additional years on top of the three he had remaining are worth $5.1 million total, according to a Rutgers official. Ash's starting salary was $2 million per year with annual raises of $100,000 and those terms remained unchanged: He will make $2.2 million in 2018.
Ash coached his first two seasons on a signed Memorandum of Agreement -- this represents his first official contract -- that assured he would have years added to his deal equal to the term of any NCAA sanctions placed on Rutgers as a result of an investigation preceding his arrival.
"When I hired Chris two years ago, I knew I was getting a great coach and the right coach for Rutgers," athletics director Pat Hobbs told NJ Advance Media.
"Given the many challenges facing the program, I wanted him to know that he would have the time it would take to be successful in the Big Ten. We play in the toughest division of the best conference in the country. We're making the investments that will bring success.
"This program is headed in the right direction, and I have 100 percent confidence in Chris Ash."
Ash is 6-18 at Rutgers, following up a 2-10 debut with a 4-8 season that included a program-record-tying three Big Ten wins. He was not immediately available for contact.
"In my opinion, we made a lot of strides here this year, but obviously not enough," Ash said after a season-ending 40-7 loss to No. 21 Michigan State. "That's part of the rebuild. Each year, you've got to keep improving in certain areas and keep moving forward."
The timing of the lengthened contract coincides with Ash and his assistants hitting the road for recruiting.
Rutgers is trying to secure and supplement a Top 40-ranked 2018 recruiting class committed a few weeks from the new early signing period. Dozens of recruits -- including several high-priority targets -- were on campus last weekend.
It is very rare for a college football coach to go into the third year of his first five-year contact unless the school is lukewarm about his future.
The name of the game in recruiting is for a coach to pitch that he will be at the school for the full length of a high schooler's college career. Otherwise, job uncertainty can be used in anti-recruiting by rivals.
Minnesota just extended coach P.J. Fleck, who went 5-7 in his first season at the helm. He was given one additional year through the 2022 season.
In 2003, then-Rutgers athletics director Bob Mulcahy gave an unproven Greg Schiano a two-year extension after he started 3-20. Rutgers was in a much different position then, having never consistently won in major college football and only been to a one bowl (in 1978).
"Very excited to get started with our offseason program," Ash said.
"We've got a lot of freshmen that played and we've got a lot (of players) coming back on both sides of the ball and on special teams. Really looking forward to getting the chance to work with them and develop them and continue to build the program."
Hobbs recently signed his own extension through 2022 that could extend to 2024 and beyond. He hired Ash, formerly Ohio State's defensive coordinator, within his first week on the job.
Rutgers received a two-year probation sentence and other recruiting limitations from the NCAA in October because of former coach Kyle Flood's "casual approach" to compliance.
Ash working under a Memorandum of Agreement is unusual -- and the strange start to the annual coaching carousel showed why.
Rutgers is showing patience.
"It wasn't something that was going to be fixed overnight," Ash said. "I've told everybody that. Continue to tell recruits that. But we need to continue to make steady progress.
"We've got to keep developing the players that are here, keep bringing good players like we did in this last class, and I really like the guys we have committed for this next class, and keep building depth and a competitive roster."
The defense and special teams -- two areas that overlap Ash's coaching background -- took big steps forward: Rutgers jumped by at least 30 spots in the national rankings in nine different categories entering the season finale.
But the offense -- which is ranked at or near the bottom in total yards, points and passing numbers -- remains a major problem. It began to effect the defense's productivity at the end of the season because the offense couldn't keep possession long enough.
"We ran out of gas and just didn't have the depth that we needed to to overcome some injuries," Ash said, "and just the amount of reps that certain individuals had because of the depth."
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
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