Locker rooms sparking discussion among Big Ten coaches

Pick between Jim Mora or Allen Iverson when you read this next line, but read it in those voices you know so well.

Locker rooms. Locker rooms? Locker rooms. We're talking about locker rooms.

Yes, amid NCAA college basketball scandals and peaceful protests during the national anthem, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh has people talking about gamesmanship and opponent locker rooms. On Monday, Harbaugh went after the conditions of opposing locker rooms across the Big Ten after the Wolverines came back from a Purdue trip that included quarterback Wilton Speight needing an MRI off-site.

He said Monday — and then backed up Tuesday on the coaches teleconference — it wasn't specifically about Purdue, but that the conference needed to look into it leaguewide.

He also said, in part, 'It's become apparent after going around to all the visiting schools the last couple years that a conscious effort of gamesmanship (is happening). It's unsportsmanlike when you have locker rooms that are too small, they're not heated or cooled properly. In this case, no air conditioning.'

Portion of Harbaugh's rant September 25, 2017

Portion of Harbaugh's rant pic.twitter.com/yu9s8CXyHn

— angelique (@chengelis)

Harbaugh's pointed comments even prompted an official response from Purdue that to paraphrase, said Michigan and Purdue were in contact throughout the week and no issues were raised (full statement below).

When his Big Ten brethren heard about it, there were mixed reactions.

Ohio State's Urban Meyer agreed wholeheartedly with Harbaugh. Leave it to opposing locker rooms to bring Buckeyes and Wolverines together, but here we are. Meyer called the gamesmanship on the carpet, too. He referenced a game at Purdue 'years ago,' where, 'we were in a couple situations where we looked around and were like, 'You've got to be kidding me.''

Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm is new to the Big Ten, and kind of had the whole scenario dropped on his lap, given the facilities were far from in his control. He was, unsurprisingly, fully supportive of his athletics department's statement because, he said, lines of communication are always open.

On top of that, going on the road isn't supposed to be a holiday, Brohm said.

'It's not like you're going to change in the Marriott hotel — they're normal locker rooms,' Brohm said. 'It definitely doesn't have all the frills you'd love to have, but it's a visiting locker room. You deal with it. I haven't been in a whole lot of collegiate visiting locker rooms that are extremely comfortable and extremely nice for the visiting team.'

Most everyone else asked about the issue either chuckled or sighed when the subject got brought up.

Wisconsin's Paul Chryst said he thinks it's good the conference will address the issue at meetings in October, and deftly avoided siding with or against Harbaugh by saying, 'every locker room you get a win in, those are good ones, and every locker room you don't, they're not as good.'

Michigan State's Mark Dantonio flat out refused to answer the question, giving a short laugh before he said, 'I'm sort of focused on our job at hand and that's not for me to say right now.'

Nebraska's Mike Riley, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald and Maryland's D.J. Durkin said they hadn't thought much about it, and probably wouldn't. Fitzgerald chalked it up to the uniqueness of every stadium, and said it's up to the opposing team to roll with the given situation — i.e., fans when it's hot and heaters when it's cold.

'My comment is I have no comment,' Durkin said. 'I don't know. I have a lot of other things to worry about or think about than that, I guess. As long as there's places you can use the restroom, take a shower and change your clothes, beyond that is whatever.'

Maybe it's a coincidence the two highest-powered schools in the conference, which have extravagant facilities, are the two most upset about this issue. Maybe not.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz had the best story to illustrate just how much he thought locker room conditions didn't matter, though.

He hearkened back to 1990, when he was head coach at Maine in what he called 'a league of bus rides.' Ferentz said he could 'remember our first away game vividly,' that season, which was at Villanova — a game his Black Bears lost, 31-7, at Villanova Stadium. The conditions that day weren't great.

'I found it interesting they only had one commode in the locker room,' Ferentz said. 'I remember dressing in a pool locker room.'

He also reminisced about his first years in the NFL and the locker rooms at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, where 'both locker rooms were awful — and that was the NFL.'

Everyone agrees player safety is important. But some saw it as a bigger deal than others.

'That's just part of being on the road,' Ferentz said.

Purdue Statement by Jeremiah Davis on Scribd

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com