After another ugly loss, Rutgers fires Ash
Rutgers fired football coach Chris Ash four games into a season where the hapless Scarlet Knights are showing little progress.
AD Pat Hobb announced the firing less than 24 hours after Rutgers (1-3) was embarrassed 52-0 by Michigan. The Scarlet Knights were 1-11 last season and haven’t won a Big Ten game since 2017.
Hobbs also announced offensive coordinator John McNulty was fired and tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
The 45-year-old Ash posted an 8-32 record in three-plus years, including a 3-26 mark in the Big Ten.
Rutgers hosts Maryland on Saturday.
A search for the next coach will begin immediately, Hobbs said. Even before the move to let go Ash, there was speculation that former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano would be a candidate to return to the school.
Schiano was Rutgers coach from 2001-11, leading a massive rebuild that took the program from the bottom of major college football to six bowl appearances in seven seasons. Schiano left to become Buccaneers coach after the 2011 season, but lasted only two seasons.
Alabama is No. 1 in The AP poll for the first time this season, replacing preseason No. 1 and defending national champ Clemson after the Tigers eeked out a 21-20 win over North Carolina on Saturday. The Crimson Tide received 29 of 61 first-place votes. Clemson slipped to No. 2 and received 18 first-place votes. Georgia, Ohio State and LSU rounded out the rest of the top five. No. 24 SMU is ranked for the first time since the program received the so-called death penalty for NCAA rules violations in 1987 and didn’t compete for two seasons. ... Notre Dame junior DE Daelin Hayes will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn labrum during the Irish’s 35-20 win over Virginia on Saturday. Also, senior CB Shaun Crawford will miss three to four weeks with a dislocated elbow.
Two-time defending F1 champ Lewis Hamilton of England coasted to a comfortable victory at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. Hamilton extended his season points lead to 73 over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas of Finland, who finished second in the race. Pole winner Charles Leclerc of Monaco was third.
Clippers F Paul George told ESPN that he will not play in the preseason and is targeting a November return from offseason surgeries on both shoulders. George, 29, had right rotator cuff surgery to repair a partially torn tendon in his right shoulder in May, and a minor surgery to repair a partial tear of his left labrum in June.
Sidney Crosby left the Penguins’ preseason finale Saturday after suffering an apparent foot injury when hit by a puck. There was no update yet on the severity of the injury. Bryan Rust also left the game after he was hit in the hand by a puck. ... The Avs re-signed RW Mikko Rantanen to a six-year, $55.5 million deal. Rantanen, 22, set career highs in goals (31), assists (56) and points (87) last season. ... The Jets re-signed LW Kyle Connor to a seven-year, $50 million deal. Connor, 22, had 34 goals and 32 assists last season.
Real Sociedad missed an opportunity to move atop the La Liga table, suffering a 3-2 road loss to Sevilla. Real Madrid leads the season standings at 15 points through seven rounds, while Granada and Atletico Madrid are at 14 and two-time defending champ Barcelona, Sociedad and Sevilla are at 13.
No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia beat France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (4), 6-4 to win the Zhuhai Championships in China. It was De Minaur’s third ATP title of the year.
Shelley-Ann FraserPryce of Jamaica won the women’s 100 meters at the world championships in Doha, Qatar. Fraser-Pryce won her fourth 100 title in 10.71 seconds. Dina Asher-Smith of Britain was second (10.83) and Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast was third (10.90). Defending champ Tori Bowie withdrew before the semifinals. She’s been hampered by injuries all year.
League MVP Elena Delle Donne scored 22 points to help the Mystics beat the Sun 95-86 in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in Washington.
— News services