MSU football: Ash has set high standards in an eventful life

By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Writer

Saturdays mean one thing to Rob Ash: work.

Sean Sperry/Chronicle Rob Ash developed his work ethic at a young age, when his father, a Methodist minister, doled out chores to his four children on 3x5 cards. Through nearly 40 years of fall game days and a childhood under an organized father, once the week ends, the labor begins.

When Ash was in grade school, Saturday mornings began with breakfast and a box of 3x5 cards. Each card had a household chore written on it by his father, Dave.

Rob and his three siblings would sit around the table while Dave doled out the cards.

“When you finished a job, you gave the card back. When you finished all of your cards, then you could go play,” Rob Ash, who was chosen Montana State University's head football coach last weekend, said Wednesday in his new office.

The former Drake University head coach has been on the job less than a week, but has bounced from meeting to meeting, greeting to greeting, since arriving in Bozeman. The never-idle schedule compares to his years as an Iowa youngster.

Because Dave was a Methodist preacher, the Ashes moved every five years when he was assigned to a different church, in a different town. It was the only life they knew.

“I grew up in the church,” Rob Ash, 55, said. “We didn't have a lot of money, but we had a great life. It was a great, high-quality life.”

Yes, Sundays were important as well.

A day of worship included dad at the front of the congregation, the children singing hymns and their mother, Martha, who was also the choir director, playing the organ.

“They were like head coach and assistant,” Rob says of his parents.

Dave's work kept him busy most weekends, but he was offered four Sundays off each year. He chose to take them successively in August - meaning the family once again became mobile.

Using a car and a Nimrod camper, the Ashes annually hit the road for a month and eventually visited every state except Hawaii. There are no roads to Hawaii.

“We never stayed in a hotel; never ate in a restaurant,” Rob Ash proudly recalled.

Being No. 1

Rob Ash was born in Minburn, 30 miles northwest of Des Moines, a tiny town that even now has just 450 residents. He later participated in football, basketball, tennis and track at Ottumwa High, 80 miles southeast of Des Moines.

He was the quarterback for Ottumwa's 0-9 season as a junior, but helped the basketball team reach the state tournament.

He was a member of the choir and several academic clubs and graduated - in 1969 - as valedictorian of a class of over 600 students.

At Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Ash became a Little All-America football player and earned academic All-America honors as well. He also played tennis and again graduated at the top of his class.

“I always wanted to be No. 1,” he said. “That was really important to me.”

Ash later earned master's degrees at the universities of Iowa (physical education) and Michigan (history) and took his first coaching job as an assistant at Cornell in 1976.

Five years later, he accepted the head coaching position at Juniata College in central Pennsylvania. The Division III school is acclaimed for being the alma mater of Chuck Knox, who coached the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams.

Juniata was in competition for players with the Big Ten (Penn State is a short drive away), Atlantic 10, Ivy League, Division II schools and the service academies.

“It's a great little school, tough as heck to recruit to,” Ash said of Juniata. “When you'd go to a big high school, there would be 15 or 20 coaches there trying to recruit the same kids you were.”

Bittersweet Bulldog

After nine seasons and a school-record 51 victories leading the Eagles, Ash was hired at Drake in January of 1989. The homecoming to Des Moines, however, was anything but pleasant.

Ash's parents, recently retired, had just built their first home the previous summer (the church owned their previous houses), the same time Martha Ash was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She died one week after Easter, in the spring of 1989.

“She never got to see me coach at game at Drake,” Rob Ash said.

An on-campus tragedy also greeted Ash in his early days with the Bulldogs: the suicide of a current player. The young man who took his own life was a good friend of Dale Ploessl, who was a Drake sophomore defensive lineman at the time.

Ploessl, who was hired Tuesday as MSU's offensive coordinator, said Ash's focus shifted well away from the field.

“At that point, football wasn't the most important thing at all,” Ploessl said Thursday. “It was more of how everybody on the team was doing. (Ash) was amazing through that. He helped everyone get through it. Those are things we'll never forget.”

Ploessl was a four-year starter at Drake before graduating in 1992. He later served two stints as an assistant under Ash, eventually becoming offensive coordinator.

Ploessl, 37, said Ash's compassionate attitude is sure to become apparent in Bozeman.

“Football's important; it's part of our lives. But it's not the most important thing,” Ploessl said. “I think that's what the community here will find out about him. I think that's what the players are going to find out about him. That he really, really does care about his team.”

Ash's father, who eventually remarried, died in 1998 from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Pedal to metal

After Ash graduated from Cornell, he had another chance to tour the country when he and a former college teammate biked from coast to coast.

The trek was split over two summers. The first year, the pair flew to Seattle and pedaled for three weeks before reaching Iowa. The next year they completed the trip, finishing in Washington, D.C.

“We just decided it was something we wanted to do,” Ash said. “That was a fabulous experience. It was the toughest thing we'd ever done, but it was extremely rewarding.”

Ash hasn't done much moving around over the past 20 years. His latest move, however, at least brings he and wife, Margaret, closer to their two children.

The couple's son, Scott Ash, 23, walked onto Texas Christian's baseball program and now lives in San Diego. Scott, who stands 6-foot-5, did not play football in high school but did play basketball and baseball.

Daughter Kelly Ash, 20, is a student at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

“She's a jazz singer in the making,” her proud father said.

Margaret Ash is a flute teacher and a cruise consultant.

New beginning

Rob Ash impressed Montana State's coaching search committee when he first interviewed for the job over the phone. He later the dazzled the community when he read a personal statement at his public forum June 4 at Bobcat Stadium.

He laid it all on the line when he told the gathering: “I'll hold people that are part of my team to high standards in three areas: high standards in academics, high standards of behavior off the field, and high standards on the football field where I expect to win championships.”

Ash spoke those words with conviction, appearing relaxed in front of the captive crowd - no doubt the preacher's son.

As he breezed through his talk, Ash flipped the pages of his prepared speech. The words were written on paper, but they could have easily been scribbled on 3x5 cards.

Rob Ash has always had his work cut out for him on Saturdays. Currently, it is in the form of football games. As a child, it was over breakfast with a keep-everything-in-order father calling the shots.

“It was structured but it was wonderful,” he said. “We learned to get along without much. We had great friends and a great value structure.”

Reader Comments