By Jordan Hansen
Big Ten media days are just around the corner, which brings coaches and players from all over the conference together for the two-day event.
The season edges ever closer, and the head coaches from each school will get all sorts of questions relating to everything from the state of the program to which quarterback will get the nod in the first game. Here are the five coaches The Daily Iowan thinks will have the most to talk about.
Lovie Smith, Illinois
Few schools have had a stranger season and off-season than Illinois.
This time last year, Tim Beckman was the head coach. However, a week before the first game, he was fired after an investigation into his coaching practices revealed he forced players to play through injuries and was generally accused of mistreatment of the players.
Then, another bombshell — Athletics Director Mike Thomas was fired in early November as the team crawled to a 5-7 record. Interim coach Bill Cubit was hired on a strange two-year deal (most college head coaching jobs come with a four-year commitment to help with recruiting, because it sells stability), a deal which many questioned.
He lasted less than half the off-season; newly hired Josh Whitman fired him in February as one of his first official decisions.
Enter Lovie Smith.
He has a tough job ahead of him as he got a late start on running the team, but for the first time in a while, there’s some sense of direction in the Illinois football program. Expect him to get plenty of questions about where his team is headed and what he plans to change.
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
The national champs, two seasons removed had quarterback instability throughout the season, which led to the Buckeyes falling out of the College Football Playoffs race.
A 44-28 win in the Fiesta Bowl looks nice, but Meyer lost a ton from that team, though quarterback J.T. Barrett returns. Ohio State still looks like a contender for both the Big Ten and national championships, but there are some holes on both the offense and defense.
One note that will get brought up: running back Bri’onte Dunn (who was expected to compete for a starting job) was just dismissed from the team for an unspecified violation of team rules. He allegedly choked and hit his girlfriend, which is truly awful.
It will be interesting to watch Meyer attempt to deflect those questions.
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
The Wolverines come into the season as one of the Big Ten favorites, and they have lots of expectations after a 10-3 mark in Harbaugh’s first year.
There will be snarky responses about who his quarterback will be, questions about losing his defensive coordinator, and he won’t be left alone during the open-interview session.
Oh, and it’s worth mentioning Michigan’s last game of the regular season will be against Ohio State. Expect a few jabs at the Wolverines’ hated rival as well.
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
“Was last year a fluke?”
This is a question that will face the entire Iowa football team throughout the season, but it will be openly brought up during the event. Going 12-0 was something Iowa has never done, and being absolutely dominated in the Rose Bowl will also be a huge part of his interviews.
Iowa brings back most of last season’s squad, but there are question marks — especially at receiver — that will have to be answered. The Hawkeyes will play this year with massive chips on their shoulders and have a lot to prove.
Chris Ash, Rutgers
Another school that fired its coach after the season, and Ash was brought in to clean up the mess Kyle Flood left.
A multitude of players got arrested, and Flood was suspended for three games in the middle of the season because of an academic scandal. Not a fun situation to come into, but Ash has done all the right things so far.
As a new coach in the league, expect him to get mobbed with many of the same questions Smith and other new faces in the conference will be asked.