Big Ten coaches address national anthem protests

The Big Ten Conference stretches from Nebraska to New Jersey; from Minnesota to Maryland. It's a long way from one to the other.

It should come as no surprise that programs and their coaches aren't just far apart geographically.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday, both during the Big Ten coaches teleconference and his weekly news conference later, that in his opinion, politics and sports shouldn't merge. Contrast that with someone like his opponent last Saturday, Penn State, which saw freshman Lamont Wade post a video on Twitter expressing his support for Colin Kaepernick and the movement he started more than a year ago. Nittany Lions Coach James Franklin expressed pride in Wade for his 'thoughtful' and 'respectful' comments.

Each coach asked Tuesday acknowledged this is a time in which social media and the internet dictate college football teams cannot simply focus on the next opponent — try as they might. Discussions like that of football players across the country kneeling or embracing in unity as a form of protesting racial and social injustice during the national anthem are going to intersect with football.

How each Big Ten team handles it may differ as much as the mileage that separates them, but it's impossible to ignore. That's kind of the point of it all.

'I want my players to have discussions on college campuses,' Franklin said. 'I want our players to have discussion in the locker room. I want our players to express themselves on social media. What I want them to do is take their time; I want them to be thoughtful. I don't want them to be emotional. I want them to articulate themselves and voice themselves, (that) when you're stating something or discussing something that you're looking at it from both perspectives.'

Who's really disrespecting our flag? I felt the need to speak my part September 25, 2017

Who's really disrespecting our flag? I felt the need to speak my part #ImWithKaep @Kaepernick7 Full Video: https://t.co/uCq0cu7mAq #RETWEET pic.twitter.com/1PvcxuN3H0

— 38Sav® (@Goony_38)

Perspective matters a great deal when it comes to this whole discussion. In fact, it's really the only thing that matters.

Ferentz's perspective is that 'I don't think it's the time or place for political commentary,' when football players are on the football field. He said Tuesday he encourages his players to be an active part of the political process, to be involved in activism or social programs if that's an outlet they deem worthy, but that football is something different.

He said he believes all his players, as part of human existence, not just the college football machine, 'if you're alive you should be thinking. You should be weighing and measuring.' Ferentz echoed last year in saying whatever the team does, it will do together, but that 'I think we're all going to try to leave the politics outside of our team experience.'

His counterparts across the Big Ten were less willing to separate the two.

Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh said if 'you respect what somebody, what they believe and respect for them to address the anthem as they believe and see fit,' before directly answering the question as to his players kneeling for the anthem and saying, 'I would respect their right to do so.'

Wisconsin's Paul Chryst echoed the 'respect' line of thinking, saying, 'I think you respect well-thought-out opinions and views and what I like doing is getting to understand what's impacting that person and their thoughts. I think you respect the thoughts and respect the viewpoints,' without specifically saying one way or another if a protest was in play, discouraged or encouraged at Wisconsin.

At Nebraska, Mike Riley and Co. watched it happen last season. Mohamed Barry, DaiShon Neal and Michael Rose-Ivey took a knee before the Northwestern game last fall. Rose-Ivey then went in front of the media on Monday and talked through the decision to do so. Riley said Tuesday more discussions have not taken place this year, but 'I thought it was really well done,' last year.

Nebraska's Michael Rose-Ivey with a powerful statement in today's press conference. Says fans told him he should "be hung before the anthem" September 26, 2016

Nebraska's Michael Rose-Ivey with a powerful statement in today's press conference. Says fans told him he should "be hung before the anthem" pic.twitter.com/NJjEMnUYhd

— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF)

Some schools aren't on the field for the anthem currently. Penn State, as a normal routine, stays in the locker room for the anthem — as they did last Saturday at Kinnick Stadium — as do Maryland and Illinois regularly.

Illini head coach Lovie Smith said he wants his players to 'let their opinion be their own,' and 'as long as they're doing something legally, we encourage that at all times,' adding that his players have 'a mic at their disposal at any time. If there's something that's important to them, they can make their feelings known at any time.'

Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald said his team spoke about the protests on Monday, and he shared his thoughts on the subject with the team before he and his staff left the room so the team could discuss it themselves. When Fitzgerald and the leadership group met later, he said he fully supported them.

'We're a team that's going to talk about issues,' Fitzgerald said. 'We're sometimes going to have to agree to disagree and that's the great thing about our country. We're allowed to have our own opinions. As long as they're thoughtful and respectful, I'm going to support that with our guys.

'Our guys are unified in what they want to do and how they want to support each other. That's part of college, learning and formulating who you are and how you can engage.'

Each coach, and each program — whether it was as specific as Ferentz went about wishing the two worlds didn't intersect on Saturdays or as Harbaugh endorsing it — wished for unity in the process. In the end, at least among the 14 individuals who coach Big Ten football, that's the perspective that was common.

If Sunday's NFL display is any indication, the protests and its movement are not going away soon. And if that indeed is true, the trickle-down effect into college football — players follow the lead of those they look up to, after all — will continue as it did last season.

Hlas: Even Iowa's football people see protests differently

Indiana Coach Tom Allen hinted Tuesday that something might be coming for the Hoosiers in the next few weeks. Allen echoed unification as the chief tenet, but added that 'it would be out of respect for our country and university and handled in a manner as such.'

He didn't specify what it would be, but said what some NFL teams did — linking arms while standing with each other — 'makes a lot of sense to me.'

Whatever actually ends up happening, Allen hammered home a theme of all of this: his players are people, too.

'We're in the process of discussing it,' Allen said. 'I want our guys to understand that we are citizens first as students here at IU. I represent a very broad group of young men with multiple backgrounds. I just want to do something that definitely would be considered a unifying gesture that also is done out of respect for all the different components for all the things the anthem represents.

'It's a hot topic, a delicate topic for sure and everyone has opinions. Most people don't have the same opinion. As a representative of a lot of different folks, we'll make sure we do it the right way.'

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