Training camps across college football will start in about a month, and Big Ten Football Media Days -- the unofficial start to the Big Ten's season -- are scheduled for July 26 and 27 in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Big Ten is entering the 2023 season with three schools -- Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State -- looking to compete for a national championship. Wisconsin, Purdue and Nebraska all have new head coaches entering the season. Michigan State and Iowa faced some controversy last season for failing to meet expectations. Maryland, Minnesota and Illinois look to be on the rise, but Northwestern and Indiana are coming off of back-to-back disappointing seasons.
With bit of a changing landscape in the Big Ten entering the 2023 season, the Hoosier ranks Big Ten football coaches into tiers ahead of the upcoming season.
THE NEWCOMERS
Luke Fickell, Ryan Walters and Matt Ruhle all enter the Big Ten with varying degrees of head coaching experience -- at different levels -- and success.
Fickell, who surprisingly accepted the Wisconsin position after previously being courted by other Big Ten programs in previous years, is the only coach to lead a Group of 5 schools to the College Football Playoff when Cincinnati played Alabama in the CFP semifinals in 2022.
In the last two NFL Drafts, Fickell has had 12 players selected, including Sauce Gardner, going No. 4 overall to the Jets in 2022. Fickell is a proven developer of talent and is now attracting higher-level talent to Wisconsin, including quarterback transfers Tanner Mordecai, Nick Evers, wide receivers CJ Williams and Bryson Green on the offensive side. The Badgers currently have the 24th-ranked recruiting class in the country, which would be their best finish since 2021.
Walters has zero head coaching experience, but he led the country's best defense last season at Illinois and coordinated Missouri's defense before taking the same position at Illinois. He helped four Illini defensive backs -- Kerby Joseph, Devon Witherspoon, Quan Martin and Sydney Brown -- get drafted in the last two seasons. The defensive back success at Illinois has translated to Purdue, where he's recruited the No. 27 ranked class that includes three four-star ranked players Marcos Davila, Keondre Henry and Koy Beasley.
Ruhle returns to the college game after getting fired as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in the middle of last season. Ruhle is hoping to bring identity back to Nebraska, something former head coach Scott Frost failed to do. Ruhle has excelled in rebuilds in previous college coaching stops. Temple improved from 2-10 in his first season to 6-6 in his second before back-to-back 10-win campaigns in 2015 and 2016.
Then, at Baylor, Ruhle led the Bears out of the Art Briles sexual assault cover-up scandals in short order. After a 1-11 first season at Baylor, Ruhle pushed Barylor to 7-6 in his second season and 11-3 in his third year, which included a final CFP ranking of No. 7 in 2019.
TRENDING POORLY
Tom Allen led Indiana to consecutive winning seasons in 2019 and 2020, and the Hoosiers landed one of their best classes in program history in 2022, finishing No. 19 in the final rankings. But injuries hampered the Hoosiers in 2021 and 2022 and Allen's team is a combined 6-18 the last two seasons despite being ranked No. 17 in the preseason in 2021.
Indiana added about 20 transfers this offseason to help improve the roster, but the Hoosiers do have a tough schedule with Louisville in the nonconference in addition to usual Big Ten East foes.
At Rutgers, Greg Schiano has won just 12 games in his second stint as the Scarlet Knights' head coach, which started in 2020. He has just won one home conference win in three seasons. The Scarlet Knights have the No. 21 ranked recruiting class in the country, which includes four-star tight end Korey Duff Jr.
Since playing Ohio State in the 2020 Big Ten Championship game, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald has a 4-20 overall record as head coach. The Wildcats have won just two Big Ten games in the last two seasons. The struggles the last two seasons led to Fitzgerald moving on from defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil, defensive line coach Marty Long and receivers coach Dennis Springer.
FEELING SOME PRESSURE
Kirk Ferentz is the longest-tenured head coach in the country, but his son, Brian Ferentz, is the offensive coordinator and Iowa's offense last season was one of the worst in modern college football history. Hawkeye fans aren't happy that Brian Ferentz is still the offensive coordinator, and making it worse, the dispute has become public with a contract stipulating Iowa score at least 325 points and win at least seven games this season to be retrained.
Ferentz has accomplished tons at Iowa since taking the position before the turn of the century, but nepotism could be getting in the way of the typical sustained success Iowa has become accustomed to. But this season, Iowa is viewed, by many, as the Big Ten West favorite after a talent infusion via the transfer portal on offense and a more experienced offensive line.
In 2021, Michigan State won 11 games in Mel Tucker's second season with the Spartans. But last season, his team missed a bowl game and on the last day the transfer portal window was open, he lost starting quarterback Payton Thorne to Auburn and star wide receiver Keon Coleman to Florida State. Now, he has just 10 commits in the 2024 recruiting class.
The fully guaranteed $95 million-dollar contract he signed in 2021 only adds to the pressure that Tucker is feeling as his team enters the 2023 season. Is Tucker on hot seat? No probably not. But a return to bowl eligibility feels necessary this season.
ON A GOOD TREND
No coach in the Big Ten has won more league titles than Illinois' Bret Bielema. .... But none of his three rings are at Illinois, where he is preparing to enter his third season as head coach. Last season, the Illini won eight games and finished over .500 for the first time since 2007. Illinois has upset teams like Penn State and Minnesota in 2021 under Bielema and earned wins over Wisconsin and Iowa last season. But he's also taken questionable losses to Rutgers in 2021 and Indiana and Michigan State in 2022.
Since taking the Minnesota job in 2017, PJ Fleck has led the Gophers to a 44-27 record, including back-to-back nine-win campaigns. Minnesota has turned into a steady producer of strong offensive line play under Fleck, and now they'll be blocking for a new quarterback and running back after the departures of Tanner Morgan and Mo Ibrahim.
Quietly, Mike Locksley is doing good work at Maryland. The Terps have gone to back-to-back bowl games and went 4-5 in the rugged Big Ten East last season. The removal of divisions in 2024 should help Maryland. But in 2023, the biggest strength could be quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who returns for his third season as a full-time starting quarterback.
ROUTINELY AT THE TOP OF THE CONFERENCE AND COUNTRY
Jim Harbaugh has gone from on the hot seat to back-to-back Big Ten Champion and College Football Playoff participant. But his Wolverines have lost in their two appearances in the CFP, so now it's time for Michigan to improve and get to a national championship. The 2023 team appears to be Harbaugh's best at Michigan, and the return of JJ McCarthy at quarterback and a potent rushing duo of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards helps. The back-to-back wins against Ohio State are as meaningful as the Big Ten rings and playoff appearances.
Ohio State's Ryan Day might be in the "feeling some pressure" category to some, but he's only lost two Big Ten games as Ohio State's head coach in his five seasons, both to the Wolverines, which is a problem. But the Buckeyes are a missed field goal against Georiga last season away from likely hosting a national championship trophy a year ago. Ohio State has the country's No. 2 recruiting class and the best average star ranking in the country. To get back on top of the Big Ten, the Buckeyes need to fix the Michigan problem, and that's connected to defensive integrity.
James Franklin has won 11 games in four different seasons at Penn State. He doesn't have a CFP appearance at Penn State, but the expanded Playoff is going to help Penn State more than any other program, arguably. This season, Penn State is potentially a preseason top-5 team in America and with Drew Allar taking over the quarterback position, the Nittany Lions have their most talented quarterback in years. to go with a dynamic rushing attack.
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