Chris Ash is an expert on the 4-3 defense and on the difference between male and female corn.
Most New Jerseyans might be surprised to learn that there are two genders of flowers on corn plants, but the new football coach at the state university knows the intricacies all too well.
Ash paid his way through college as a supervisor on an Iowa de-tasseling crew – a form of pollination control by which the tassel is removed from the tops of plants in the female rows of a corn field.
“It’s a terrible job,” said Tom Kopatich, who hired Ash after coaching him at Ottumwa High School.