ANALYSIS: New teams, coaches liven up Big Ten Football Media Days

It stretched to three days for the first time, and it probably could have been longer as many interesting speakers were scheduled at the same times in the afternoon.

Of course new members made the whole thing feel much different than it has in the past, but that “I” word should also stand out.

“Interesting” and “Big Ten football coaches” have not always been words that go in the same sentence, but that was not the case this time around.

Of course, adding four teams to the league helped, but many of the league’s coaches being on the young side was probably an even bigger factor.

Then again, maybe the most interesting speaker was one of the oldest.

Curt Cignetti wasn’t afraid to speak his mind in his first Big Ten Media Days as head coach at Indiana, and he made sure the censors at the Big Ten Network were paying attention during his time on the big stage Thursday morning.

“Somebody asked me, ‘How do you define success at Indiana?’” Said the 63-year-old former head coach at FCS powerhouse James Madison. “I was like, ‘Well, we want to be the best.’ I mean, you don’t bring your kids up, ‘Johnny, I want you to be fourth best. I want you to be tenth best.’

“(Expletive). We want to be the best. So when I talk about no self-imposed limitations, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Indiana shares the dubious distinction of longest Big Ten title drought (56 years) with Minnesota, where head coach P.J. Fleck is both a league veteran by now and relatively young himself.

He is 43 but is entering his seventh season at Minnesota.

A former Ohio State graduate assistant, Fleck is 50-34 with the Golden Gophers, three games under .500 in conference play (29-32) but winners of all five of their bowl games in that time.

He has certainly improved the program in his time there, but how high can it go?

Like many of the coaches, Fleck spoke of the changing landscape of college football, where the players are now able to receive money for use of their name, image or likeness and soon are expected to receive a share of the money generated by lucrative media broadcasting contracts.

What happens to a program like Minnesota in this new world of college football remains to be seen.

Most folks might be surprised to know Minnesota is third all-time with 18 Big Ten championships, trailing only Michigan and Ohio State, despite not winning one since sharing the 1967 title with Indiana. The Golden Gophers also claim seven national championships, which is the fourth-most among current league members, but they have mostly been trying to simply stay above water for the last half century.

Now will that get even harder?

The addition of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon presents four more teams for Gophers to overcome in the league standings, but Fleck made his case anyway.

“Fit is more important now than it’s ever been,” said the ever-upbeat and positive Fleck. “We talk about recruiting. We’ve just had the highest-ranked recruiting class we’ve had at Minnesota, and it wasn’t because maybe we were the highest bidder. It’s because we had the right fit for our program. I think Michigan proved this last year — team, team, team. You build the best team, you’ve got a chance to win because it’s one thing to have the transaction, but then you’ve got to transform them into the best team they possibly can be. I feel like we do a pretty good job of that in the selection world. I’m not for everybody. I think I’ve said that numerous times. I don’t want to be for everybody, and I don’t think everybody’s for everybody. But if you can find the right people that fits you, I think in the new world of college athletics and football, you can have a lot of success.”

Michigan also had one of those young head coaches representing it in Indianapolis.

The 38-year-old Sherrone Moore, who made his bones as an offensive line coach, is replacing 60-year-old Jim Harbaugh, but in this case the younger man gave every indication he is fine with being known less for his words and more for his actions.

Moore also talked about the importance of fit when it comes to building a championship roster, something Michigan did without dominating recruiting but rather taking advantage of the ability to use NIL payments to encourage players to stay in school longer.

Harbaugh and his staff also used the transfer portal to fill key holes in the roster, embracing that opportunity faster than some other blue blood programs.

“I don’t think the national championship changed our recruiting philosophy. I mean, we’re Michigan,” Moore said. “We should be able to recruit the best of the best. That’s going to be my attitude as long as I’m the head coach here.

“We’re a big fit-based organization. They’ve gotta be a fit. Obviously they have to have great grades and be a fit for us.”

Then there was Dan Lanning.

Also 38, he has become one of the hot coaches in the sport in just two seasons as the head coach at Oregon.

The Ducks enter the Big Ten widely viewed as the team most ready to take on Ohio State and Michigan as Lanning has proven to be good at preparing his program to win on the field and in recruiting.

“We’re mighty different when it comes to the jerseys we get to wear or the facilities we’re in,” Lanning said. “We’re innovative. We’ve always been on the cutting edge of everything we do. We certainly positioned ourself to be on the cutting edge, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to compete in the Big Ten.”