Straight ahead for Big Ten football coaches

When it comes to Big Ten expansion, football coaches just aren't that into it.

At least for right now. If or when they find themselves game planning for a Texas or a Notre Dame or a resurgent Nebraska, they might care. 

But the last few days at the Big Ten meetings, expansion has driven the discussion. That's commissioner Jim Delany's baby. Until Kirk Ferentz finds himself in a Rutgers game week, it's not something on his radar.

"Nothing's changed," the Iowa coach said Tuesday. "It's not something I have a say in."

Thoughts on a Big Ten title game?

"No opinion."

And on and on that went Tuesday and Wednesday at Chicago's Hotel Sofitel.

"The past (of the Big Ten) speaks for itself," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "Where we go in the future is out of our hands as coaches. It'll be determined for the better of the league and the better of the future."

Fitzgerald was then asked what teams he thought might be the best fit for the Big Ten. He started shaking his head before the question was even finished.

"I just coach Northwestern football," he said. "I'm not worried about that."

Minnesota coach Tim Brewster broke ranks and is totally for the expansion notion.

"I've been an advocate for expansion, and I've said that all along," Brewster said. "I think we're missing out on money, we're missing out on huge exposure for our teams and our conference. So I think the advantages for expanding are big.

"You don't do business today the way you did five years ago. We've got to take what we've got and make it better. I think that's what we can do through expansion, is take what we have, take a great conference and make it even better. That's business, that's how you improve."

 Say this about Brewster, his hard-charging ways extend to his team's schedule. The Gophers begin a home-and-home with USC at TCF Bank Stadium this season.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez was asked if he had any questions for Delany.

"As coaches, we're reading the same things you are," he said. "I think it's interesting. We talked about it a little bit this morning. What do you hear? What do you hear? The reality of it is it's a process and it's not going to be settled for some time.

"I think we're dealing from a position of strength as a league and whatever is going to be decided is going to make our league even stronger. From a coaches standpoint, it's pretty exciting."

Of course, the Ohio State-Michigan is the flagship football game of the Big Ten. It's annually played at the end of the season and don't like for that to change.

"For us, it's always been at the end and that's always had a great buildup and excitement to that," Rodriguez said, "so you would think that would be part of the conversation. But there are a lot of factors in play."

Of course, the Notre Dame question looms large. Delany talked about the conference's dance with the Fighting Irish in 1999. No bitterness on his part. The Irish still have rivalries with Big Ten members Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue.

The Notre Dame was floated to Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith, who played football for the Fighting Irish.

"I love them, love them deeply. The things I enjoy in life are because of my experiences there. So my feelings run deep,” Smith said. “I have always struggled with the quality of experience today, in this landscape, for a football player.

"If they end up being one of the schools, I hope that they would consider what a conference championship means to a young person. I was blessed to be there when we were winning national championships. I won two, one as a coach and one as a player. Now things have changed."

Delany did touch on the idea of a championship game for football. It's not driving the expansion conversation. It's a peripheral item.

The Big Ten stands at 11 teams now. The SEC has 12 and enjoys the lucre from a conference title game, a reported $14.3 million in 2009.

"We're not looking to achieve a championship game," Delany said. "We could've done that at many times over the last 20 years. Some conferences have had great success with championship games, the SEC in particular has had a fabulous championship game. The Big 12 has been successful. Others have maybe not been quite as successful."

Delany said Big Ten football coaches would like to build the league's profile in December, when these championship games take place. The conference does have December regular-season games scheduled for December in 2011-12.

"I understand what (Big Ten football coaches) are saying," Delany said. "But that, in and of itself, isn't a reason to expand. It'd have to be a wider, broader and more meaningful set of reasons to move forward."

Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez cautioned on a conference title game using 1998 Kansas State as an example. The Wildcats were poised for a spot in the national championship, but were toppled in the Big 12 title game in a double-overtime thriller against Texas A&M.

K-State ended up losing to Purdue in the Alamo Bowl.

"Sometimes, that will blow up in your face," Alvarez said.

Illinois coach Ron Zook brought up the 14-game season a conference title game demands. Brewster likes the bight lights a conference title game would bring.

"I'm for playing a nationally televised Saturday night December championship game where America is watching," he said.

Purdue coach Danny Hope was asked about expansion possibilites and if they'd been discussed at meetings.

"Not at the ones I've been in," he said. "I'm talking about football."

Yes, yes you are.