3 questions we could learn answers to at Big Ten media days

One of the last checkpoints before the college football season kicks off in earnest requires suits and ties as opposed to helmets and shoulder pads.
Big Ten Conference media days are set for Wednesday and Thursday this week, with coaches and player representatives from each program setting up at raised tables on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, to answer questions ranging from the insightful to inane. The Big Ten always seems to have a major storyline hovering over it for the week of media days, none more shocking than the league announcing the additions of Southern Cal and UCLA last summer.
This year that storyline is more of a cloud over the proceedings, with the aftermath of Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald’s firing amid a hazing scandal still unfolding.
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The Big Ten has positioned itself as one of the two most powerful conferences in the sport, and new commissioner Tony Petitti is making his media-days debut. The former television network and Major League Baseball executive is scheduled to take questions Wednesday morning.
Here are three questions that should be answered after the Indianapolis Colts’ field is cleared of reporters, cameras and players Thursday evening.
1. How does Luke Fickell assess his team’s discipline?
The first summer of Luke Fickell’s tenure as the University of Wisconsin coach has seen impressive wins on the recruiting trail and too many run-ins with law enforcement.
Safety Kamo’i Latu, who transferred to UW last summer, settled a civil lawsuit stemming from a sexual assault allegation during his years in high school. Wide receiver Markus Allen was arrested at the Mifflin Street Block Party for possessing a firearm while intoxicated. He entered a pretrial deferment program and has left the program for the transfer portal. Linebacker Jordan Turner was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, which resulted in a suspension from athletic director Chris McIntosh, and cited for driving 117 mph on Interstate 39/90 in an attempt to make it to practice on time.
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Fickell has stated numerous times that UW’s culture was in a good place when he arrived in November, and his job was to add to it with his staff. He hasn’t been made available in the group interview setting this summer, so hearing his take on what’s transpired could be informative for how he handles such matters in the future.
2. What’s the conference response to the Northwestern case?
Wildcats interim coach David Braun and three Northwestern players are scheduled to appear at media days as of this writing, while Northwestern president Michael Schill and athletic director Dr. Derrick Gragg have not had a news conference about the hazing that led to Fitzgerald’s firing. Fitzgerald was an institution in and of himself at Northwestern, arguably the best player in program history and best coach to walk its sideline.
Fitzgerald and other Northwestern leaders — including former athletic director and current ACC commissioner Jim Phillips — are named as a defendants in multiple lawsuits former players filed last week seeking damages from the abuse they claim occurred in the Wildcats locker room. Fitzgerald also has retained representation that is looking into a lawsuit over the manner in which he was fired. Fitzgerald was let go days after being given a two-week suspension following the findings of an investigation into the hazing claims.
This case could be a moment for Petitti to draw a line for the rest of the conference going forward. His hands have been full since taking over finalizing the league’s television rights deal, but some kind of reprimand of the Wildcats could establish precedent. What if impropriety in a program decreased that school’s share of TV revenue? That would incentivize athletic departments to keep a close eye on their programs and help deter longstanding bad practices like the ones alleged to have happened at Northwestern.
3. How many is enough?
This will be the last Big Ten media days without UCLA and USC in attendance, as those two longtime Pac-12 powers jump to the league next summer. The Bruins and Trojans aren’t even in the fold yet, but further conference expansion is sure to be among the questions Petitti fields.
Petitti’s work history at some of the top TV networks gives him inside knowledge of just how valuable live sports are in today’s market, and the scheduling model that he and other conference leaders put together signifies their desire to give TV partners as many marquee matchups as possible. With no divisions in the conference and a 12-team College Football Playoff coming in 2024, Petitti is likely to be asked if he wants more than 16 teams in league, and he’s operating from a position of strength while the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 are seeing the Big Ten and SEC far surpass them in TV revenue. There’s also the compelling idea of luring Notre Dame from its semi-independent status that has been on the mind of Big Ten executives for decades.