LAS VEGAS — Chris Ash looks younger than he did when he was last on the Rutgers sideline four and a half years ago. Maybe that’s because, in remembering his time as football coach in Piscataway, it is hard to conjure up anything other than an image of his face in distress — mouth frowning, brow furrowed, eyebrows raised in shock.
Now, across the booth at an upscale steakhouse a few miles from the Las Vegas strip, that face is almost serene. Always a meat-and-potatoes guy, Ash smiles as he recommends a ribeye that “melts like butter in your mouth” to his visitor from New Jersey. The Super Bowl is in town, but he is miles removed from the mayhem, in body and spirit.