Picking the most interesting storylines of Big Ten Media Days

The 2023 Big Ten Media Days kick off in Indianapolis on Wednesday and there is plenty of ground to cover around the league. From turmoil at Northwestern to three College Football Playoff contenders in the Big Ten East, there is no shortage of storylines.

On3’s Andy Staples and HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan dove in to what they’ll be on the lookout for in Indianapolis. And it starts with what will be some of the first big public comments from Northwestern interim head coach David Braun, now in place after long-tenured head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired for hazing in the football program.

“I’m very interested about Northwestern, just to kind of see how they navigate through the day. And I’d imagine David Braun is going to have a very kind of consistent answer to every single question,” Callahan said.

Staples had a simple solution for Braun.

“I was at North Dakota State. I didn’t do it,” Staples said, offering a sample response for Braun to provide. Braun was originally hired after the 2022 season from North Dakota State to serve as Northwestern’s defensive coordinator in 2023.

Additionally, Braun will be the only representative from Northwestern on hand as the trio of players slated to represent the team chose not to attend. Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg sat down for an interview with Big Ten Network that is set to air on Wednesday.

Beyond the Northwestern hazing fallout, how new commissioner Tony Petitti lays out his vision for the league fascinates Callahan and Staples.

“I mean, just think about the new commissioners we’ve seen across college football. And this will be kind of the first time we’ve seen him in this room and his long term views and outlook is for this league whether it’s expansion or other topics. We haven’t really heard him talk about those things,” Callahan said.

As for the teams and coaches around the league, Staples and Callahan wondered what Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh would come out and say. Callahan thinks the back-to-back championship winning coach will be his usual boring media day self.

Staples, though, thinks he could come in singing a different tune.

“I see Harbaugh maybe coming out a little hot because he’s confident now. Because you’ve heard him say some things in the past like the born on third base thing. Like, now he’s got two trophies in the case. Maybe this time he goes out and throws a little spice in there,” Staples said.

“Yeah, and think about what he’s overcome,” Callahan said. “Almost being fired, almost going to the Vikings, to where he’s got this program now. I don’t know what the official poll’s going to say Tuesday in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but I would be shocked if they’re not the unanimous favorite. I know you can make the case for Penn State and Ohio State, but how do you not have Michigan the unanimous favorite in this league based on what they’ve done the last two years, based on what they return. They are built to win.”

The added wrinkle for Harbaugh is that on Tuesday, news broke that he could be facing a four-game suspension from the NCAA to start the 2023 season.

Staying in Michigan, Staples wondered about Michigan State and head coach Mel Tucker. After he was signed to a 10 year, $95 million contract, his Spartans squad posted a paltry 5-7 mark in 2022.

“I’ll tell you one guy I want to hear from Sean, is Mel Tucker. Because he has that great year with Kenneth Walker. He gets that massive extension. They were terrible last year. They have to be good if they’re going to pay him all that money. They just have to,” Staples said.

Callahan agreed, and noted that things are only going to get harder for the middle-of-the-pack teams as the Big Ten moves away from divisions in 2024 and beyond.

“That Mel Tucker story does get interesting, especially has Harbaugh continues to pull away. And when this league switches to no divisions, the Big Ten is going to be so much different moving forward without the divisional element,” Callahan said. “At least that used to give an Iowa, a Nebraska, a Wisconsin, a Minnesota something to kind of hang their hat on. ‘Hey we were the division champions.’ Now it won’t even matter any more.

“So it’s all going to be playoff driven, whether it’s two or three bids per year from the Big Ten and how that plays out with USC and UCLA. Will we see more expansion? I think we’re all just waiting for Oregon and Washington and some of those teams to potential come over some day. But the more you hear out of the Pac-12, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. The dynamic of this league, the future of this league, and questions of some of the coaches, yeah there is a lot of intrigue going into this media days for a lot of different reasons.”