Big Ten media day: Pat Fitzgerald apologizes to Nebraska; Bo Pelini's cat makes Chicago debut
Unlike the other power conferences, the Big Ten jam packs its media day festivities into one day where all 14 conference head coaches, along with players from each team, address reporters in Chicago.
There wasn’t a whole lot of noise made at this year’s event, but now that Rutgers and Maryland have become official members, the league has re-aligned into an eastern and western division.
The west has already been pegged by league media as the weaker of the two divisions, but coaches aren’t looking at it that way. Wisconsin, despite its question marks on offense, is considered the top contender in the division, largely because of what is said to be a weaker schedule against its west division counterparts.
Badgers head coach Gary Andersen doesn’t buy that theory.
"We're all going to put our helmets on and go out on play,” Andersen said. “That will define this year's teams. So to sit here now and say this division is this and this division is that based off traditions of a school, I don't buy that. There's tremendous tradition and both teams on both sides. We'll all fight it out in the defining moment and we'll see who's who."
Pat Fitzgerald says his team is 'united,' apologizes to Nebraska
On his home turf in Chicago, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, coming off a disappointing 5-7 season, kicked things off Monday morning. Fitzgerald, entering his ninth season in charge of the Wildcats, expressed excitement about having senior quarterback Trevor Siemian and fifth-year running back Venric Mark back on offense.
He also alluded to the unionization effort from the spring as a “distraction” and discussed the mood of the team in the months following the NLRB ruling and subsequent closed-ballot vote.
“I'm proud of the maturity our guys demonstrated throughout the whole process that we went through this offseason,” Fitzgerald said. “As I look back and reflect upon the experiences that our young men went through and our entire football program went through, that's what jumps out to me is their maturity. I believe there's no more unified football program in the country.”
Additionally, Fitzgerald offered an apology to Nebraska fans for saying the Cornhusker State is “boring.”
"I make a bad joke. I own a bad joke," Fitzgerald said, per the Lincoln Journal Star. "I've only spent two days in the state so I don't quite have the experience level to say whether it is or it isn't. But it was a bad joke."
Hazell looking for improvement in year two
Darrell Hazell’s first year in the Big Ten was a rough one. The Purdue head coach didn’t win a conference game in a 1-11 campaign, but the second-year head coach believes he and his coaching staff laid the groundwork for future success in the program.
“I think our guys are walking around with a lot more confidence right now,” Hazell said. “We didn't finish as well as we'd like to last year. But I think this is the time where you rip off the rearview mirror and you take a look at what's in front of you and all the things that we need to do to be successful in this 2014 season.”
Hazell’s Boilermakers return 19 starters, but he didn’t want to specify if he had any sort of goal in mind for the 2014 campaign – other than competing on a weekly basis and erasing last year’s disastrous season from his team’s collective mind.
Hazell also mentioned that the team has a 6-foot-8, 400-pound offensive guard who transferred to the team from a junior college. That certainly is #B1G.
Illinois looks to replace Scheelhaase
Next up was Tim Beckman of Illinois, who on his 15th attempt, finally won a Big Ten game last season. Now in year three at the helm, Beckman said he has 34 returning players who were on the two-deep depth chart last season. He hopes that’ll translate into more wins.
“We're still a very young football team, but we're an experienced football team,” Beckman said. “This program is heading in the direction that we are looking for, but we want to win more football games. There's no question about that. That's why we play the game.”
After it seemed like he had been in the Big Ten forever, Illinois finally is looking for a quarterback to succeed Nathan Scheelhaase. Beckman said that Wes Lunt, Reilly O’Toole and Aaron Bailey are battling it out to earn the starting role.
“It’s going to be a great competition. We look forward to it, and I know they look forward to it.”
Minnesota is 'starving'
It was more of the same when Minnesota’s Jerry Kill took to the podium. Kill’s squad surprised some people last season with eight wins, but the head coach said his team should be “starving” for more success. The 2013 campaign ended in a disappointing three-game losing streak, including a 21-17 Texas Bowl loss to Syracuse.
“When we came back from our Bowl game and we had a team meeting, I shared with our kids: Right now you should be starving,” Kill said. “We made some great strides last year. We did some good things. We've done some things that hadn't been done for a while. We want to continue to improve on what we did last year.
“If you don't have a mission to win the Big Ten, then why play?”
Kill added that Mitch Leidner will be the team’s starting quarterback and Chris Streveler will be the primary backup.
Bo Pelini's cat made its Chicago debut
Switching gears a bit, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini reiterated his thoughts about national signing day, saying it should be eliminated from recruiting.
“I said publicly I believe it would be a great idea if we would look at maybe getting rid of signing day,” Pelini said. “That's something that I think would make a lot of sense. You come to an agreement, somebody commits to your school, you've made a commitment to a young man to come play in your program, why do we have to wait to any certain day?”
Despite have a few blowups in the media and on the sideline last season, Pelini has showcased his lighter side on several occasions, especially when he brought his beloved cat onto the field before the spring game. Pelini said that he is “pretty laid back” away from the field. He also supposedly brought a friend with him to Chi-Town.
“First of all, my cat is‑‑ he's enjoying a nap up in the room. So he is here in Chicago and enjoying the Windy City.”
Ferentz expects improvement from Rudock
Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, the conference’s longest-tenured coach, was saved for last. He was quick to acknowledge this.
"When I played little league I batted 9th. Guess I've moved down five spots."
The assembled reporters must have been a little weary after listening to 13 other coaches toss off clichés all day, so Ferentz’s session was shorter than the rest. Ferentz praised senior lineman (and weightlifting monster) Brandon Scherff, along with running back Mark Weisman and added that quarterback Jake Rudock has made strides as he enters his second year as starter.
"People tend to get better if they've got the right attitude, a good skill set. And I think we saw that with Jake in the spring. He's certainly more confident. You can't hand confidence to a player; they've got to go out and earn it on the field," Ferentz said.
- - - - - - -
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
