Rob Ash Robert W . " Rob " Ash ( born July 9 , 1951 ) is a college football coach , currently the head coach at Montana State University , and a former president of the American Football Coaches Association . Ash was hired at Montana State on June 11 , 2007 , replacing former coach Mike Kramer . Ash previously spent 18 seasons as the head football coach of the Drake University Bulldogs . He was born in Des Moines , Iowa . Through the 2011 regular season , Ash ' s career FCS record is 150 – 68 – 1 . In 31 years as a head coach , Ash ' s overall record is 226 – 121 – 5 . His 226 victories rank in the Top 20 for active college football coaches . His Division III coaching record is 75 – 51 – 4 . Playing career . Ash was a quarterback at Cornell College of Iowa and earned Little All - America honors and First Team CoSIDA Academic All - America honors as a senior in 1972 . He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1973 , earning an NCAA Top Five Award and an NCAA Post - Graduate scholarship . Early coaching career . After a four - year stint as an assistant coach at his alma mater , Ash was hired as head coach at Division III Juniata College in Huntingdon , Pennsylvania . After posting a 4 – 5 record in his first season in 1980 , Juniata posted winning marks in six of the next eight campaigns . Ash finished with a 51 – 36 – 3 record as the Eagles head coach . Drake . Ash recorded a 125 – 63 – 2 record in 18 seasons at Drake , including four Pioneer Football League championships . He was named the Pioneer Football League ' s Coach of the Year in 2004 , 1998 and 1995 . Ash ended his tenure at Drake with five consecutive winning seasons . Ash led the Bulldogs to 7 – 3 and 6 – 4 records in his first two seasons . After posting a 4 – 6 mark in 1991 , Ash ' s Drake squads stood 30 – 8 – 2 over the next four years . His 125 wins stands as the most in school history . Montana State . Ash was hired in the wake of a scandal at Montana State that resulted in the firing of Kramer , who coached the Bobcats the previous seven seasons . Kramer ' s contract was terminated by MSU administrators in May 2007 due to off - the - field incidents that included drug and robbery charges involving current and former players . Ash ' s Bobcats went 6 – 5 in his first season as coach . In 2009 Ash was named second vice president of the American Football Coaches Association . Per AFCA tradition , Ash moved up to first vice president in 2010 and became president in 2011 before giving way to Harvard coach Tim Murphy the following year . In 2010 , Ash guided the Bobcats to a 9 – 2 regular season record , including a 7 – 1 mark in the Big Sky Conference . MSU defeated arch rival Montana 21 – 16 on the road to win the conference championship and an automatic berth to the FCS postseason . Ash was named the 2010 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year . In 2011 , Ash guided the Cats to another share of the Big Sky Conference title , sharing with the University of Montana , and going to the NCAA playoffs . The Bobcats beat the University of New Hampshire by one in the second round before losing in the quarter finals to Sam Houston State . After the season , Ash was named the 2011 Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year . The 2012 season resulted in a one loss regular season for the Bobcats , and a share of the Big Sky Conference championship , their third in three seasons . Ash was named the Region 5 co - coach of the year for 2012 by the American Football Coaches Association .