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The search for a new head football coach has been silent but hectic at the same time.
There have been the classic cases of coach's agents feeding the media false information which may have led to some misinformation early on.
However, NJ.com's Keith Sargeant published an article naming former Miami coach Al Golden as a frontrunner for the Rutgers job.
NJ.com also published an article naming Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash as a possible replacement for Kyle Flood.
Both of these possible replacements have been named by multiple major news outlets.
Clearly both of these candidates have very different backgrounds. Golden was fired by Miami following a 58-0 loss to Clemson at home while Ash has a very safe job coaching one of the better defenses in the country.
To be clear, Ash is "the guy" for Ohio State's defense. He is a defensive-back guru and calls the plays from the pressbox on gameday.
Let's get to comparing.
| Category | Al Golden | EDGE | Chris Ash |
| Coaching Background | Golden was the head coach of Temple from 2006-2010 and completely turned the program around | Al Golden | Ash was the DC for elite Wisconsin defenses from 2011-2012. He was the DC for Arkansas in 2013 and has been the co-DC and DB coach for tOSU since 2014. |
| Recruiting | Golden is known to have great recruiting ties to NJ. At one point, Miami had a top-5 recruiting class and Golden had double-digit 4-star recruits committed to The U. | Al Golden | Ash is not known for being an elite recruiter, but deserves a lot of credit. He has been key it getting many 4-star recruits to Ohio State and is currently recruiting NJ native Jordan Fuller. |
| X's and O's | Golden runs a combo offense, but leans toward the spread. He runs a 3-4 defense, which I actually think suits Rutgers better. | Chris Ash | Ash runs a 4-3 defense and plays a lot of man coverage, which is how Joe Rossi should've ran the Rutgers D this past year. He relies on elite cover corners and can play a safety up in the box. |
| Price Tag | Golden made around $2.5 million at Miami and the asking price could be right around there for Rutgers | Al Golden (see here) | Ash will have a lower price tag, but could go for around $2 million. He would be wise to take that massive pay raise. |
| NJ familiarity (It is important) | Golden was a star in the NJ HS football circuit at Red Bank Catholic and was inducted into the Jersey Shore Sports Hall of Fame | Al Golden | Ash has no known ties to The Garden State |
| Likeliness | Not only has Golden's name been mentioned for a while, Sargeant's article hints that he is the top choice at the moment. | Al Golden | Ash's name has been reported a lot recently but it is the first time it has been mentioned ever. |
| Overall | More experience, safer candidate, and better recruiter. | Al Golden | High risk, high reward candidate who could easily improve our porous defense. |
Just by looking at my wonderful chart, it is clear that Golden is more deserving and the better choice for the job. He has also been all over NJ recruits and current Rutgers commits on Twitter. Some notable follows are Rutgers targets Mark Webb, Donald Stewart, Justin and Jayson Ademilola, and Devin Miller. He is also following numerous Rutgers commits such as Jon Pollock, Alex Barbir, Nick Krimin, and Anthony Russo.
We could finally be in the closing stages of this defining moment in Rutgers Athletics.