The SEC has the chatty coaches and allows them to go on loquacious sermons about football, social issues and life in general at football media days. The Big 12 brings its nutty mascots to liven up its media days event. In the Pac 12, most of the coaches have already met with national media prior to the conference event, so they engage in activities like putt-putt golf and piñatas to pass the day away. To say the Big 10 takes a very serious tone at its media days would be to undersell the word “serious.” The head coaches stick to a 2-3 minute opening statement, (there are some SEC coaches that would quit if they had to stick to that time frame), and then take about 10-12 minutes to answer questions from the assembled media. Since the coaches were all business, we will attempt the same effort.
Big 10 Media Days; Day 1
Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio had a great year last season by any measure, except his own. The Spartans finished the season 11-2 overall and 7-1 in conference and had an epic 42-41 come-from-behind win over Baylor in the Cotton Bowl. But Dantonio knows that one conference loss at home to Ohio State quite possibly cost his team a playoff bid. “We fell short of our own goals,” Dantonio said. He talked about close things were last season, while giving props to Ohio State. “Things hang by inches in college football and when people get hot, great things happen.” He said he has very high expectations for his offense because he returns QB Connor Cook who is 23-3 as a starter and he has an offensive line he says is so deep he intends to rotate eight players up front during the season.
Illinois’ Tim Beckman had reason to come in being serious. He spent much of the offseason fending off allegations from former players that they were mistreated by the team’s medical staff, under the instruction of Beckman, when it came to serious injuries. The Illini’s trainer was dismissed during the offseason and the school launched an internal review into the matter. Beckman would not address the specifics of the allegations but said, “The philosophy we use is what the football players continue to believe in.” Lest you think it was intense the entire time, the coach did go into a rather animated explanation of how has turned the school’s battle cry “OSKEE” into an acronym for Our Success comes from Knowledge, Effort and Energy.” Poetry it isn’t, but when you were 6-7 overall last year and have had a seemingly never-ending offseason, you do what you can to rally the troops.
Paul Chryst enters his first year as the Wisconsin head coach. He spent seven seasons as an assistant in Madison, prior to coaching Pitt the last three. Some of the seniors on his new team are players he recruited in his previous stint there. Last year the Badgers went 11-3 and beat Auburn in the Outback Bowl. But they too had a loss that haunted them throughout the offseason, a 59-0 shellacking to Ohio State in the conference championship game. Chryst said his goal after being hired was to “Try to keep everything as upbeat as possible. You want to do all you can to help players take advantage of the window that is college football.” Chryst will have to replace one of the best running backs in school history, Melvin Gordon, who is now in the NFL. He said he is going to rely heavily on Corey Clement who ran for nearly a thousand yards last season and said Clement will benefit from having had a great mentor in Gordon.
Maryland’s Randy Edsall is still getting used to the Big 10 after the Terrapin’s move last year from the ACC. After his first season through the conference what has Edsall learned? “This is a lineman league. You have to win in the trenches to be successful. It’s very physical.” With losses coming last season against Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State, physicality was clearly a shortcoming for the Terps. He also pointed out that his team leadership is coming from an unusual place…the place kicker position. Brad Craddock missed a potential game winning field goal against North Carolina State three season ago and nearly walked away from the game, with going back home to Australia as a likely option. Edsall said instead, Craddock worked tirelessly on his fundamentals. The result? A 57 yard field goal against Ohio State last season that is a Maryland record. Edsall said as a result of the determination Craddock showed, he has become a team focal point. “In 17 years in coaching, I have never had the leadership that I have on this team.”
Like Beckman, Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson spent some of the offseason dealing with unpleasant personnel issues. Hoosiers defensive back Antonio Allen was kicked off the team last month after he was allegedly caught selling narcotics to an undercover informant. Wilson said the issue was related to just the one player and that the incident has caused the team to gel as a whole. “This is the best we have ever been collectively.” After going 1-7 in the Big 10 in 2014, Wilson gave the understatement of the day, “We need to get more W’s.” Apparently Wilson’s other challenge is to get more fans in the seats. He said there is an issue with students buying tickets but staying out in the parking lots tailgating instead of coming in to watch the games. “W’s” might fix that.
Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz said the 4—4 conference record last season was not so much the issue as the way his Hawkeyes competed, or in this case didn’t compete, every game. “The way we lost, the way we competed, the losses we had two years ago, I’m not sure our opponents would have wanted to play us again after those ballgames. Whereas last year a couple of them would have signed up for a doubleheader. If you look at it from that regard, it’s hard to take, when you don’t do your absolute best and you leave something on the field.” As a result, Ferentz made it clear that many positions battles are wide open this season.
Ohio State’s Urban Meyer ended the day, but instead of getting to bask in the glory of being the defending national champion, Meyer had to addressed today’s earlier announcement that All American defensive end Joey Bosa, and three others, will be suspended for the season opener against Virginia Tech. There are unconfirmed media reports that Bosa, along with H-backs Jalin Marshall, Dontre Wilson and wide receiver Corey Smith broke team rules with regards to marijuana. Meyer would not address the specifics but said because the team suffered seemingly critical losses last season with injured players, the Buckeyes know how to handle this. “You learn how to go on and push forward together.” Meyer said he will take his time choosing a QB for the season because they and their families have earned that from me.”
And if you think these guys aren’t a learned group…every single one of them touted what they see as extraordinary academics throughout the conference. It was almost “library-esque.”
ARLINGTON, TX – JANUARY 12: Head Coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes points in the second half against the Oregon Ducks during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium on January 12, 2015 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
