A Day in the Life at Big Ten Media Day
7/24/2017 11:49:00 PM | Football
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
CHICAGO - The Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" 50 years ago this summer. That epoch-altering album was capped by epic song, "A Day in the Life" (itself concluded by an extended E chord to end all E chords).
Monday's opening session at Big Ten Football Media Days also droned on a bit. But much of its Indiana aspects qualified as music to Hoosier fans' ears.
There seemed little doubt that Tom Allen, entering his first full season as IU's head coach, struck a very positive chord.
So did Indiana's trio of senior representatives, cornerback Rashard Fant, quarterback Richard Lagow and linebacker Tegray Scales.
What follows is a basic rundown of the day's Hoosier activities at the sprawling McCormick's Place facility.
(A very busy day in the lives of all four men).
9 a.m.: Breakfast.
9:30 a.m.: "Team photo" in the convention center lobby with Allen and his players suited up in true sartorial splendor, highlighted by Scales' bow tie.
9:45 a.m.: Allen to the Fox Sports antechamber to start the day's barrage of interviews, and the players to Fox Photo, where they don 2017 crimson IU football jerseys. Looking for varied facial expressions, a photographer asks the players to give him "game day" and "championship" faces. Scales, subsequently asked how he likes doing photo shoots, responds with the customary honesty exhibited by all the Hoosiers: "Not a big fan."
10 a.m. Players to Fox Marketing. They shill successfully.
10:15 a.m.: Allen to BTN, interviewed by producer Rob Michel. Just a small sampling of the topics addressed: the Aug. 31 season opener (hosting Ohio State and new Buckeye offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson), the "targeting" rule (Allen favors it, especially now review is part of applying it), the new and additional December signing period (Allen has mixed emotions), the College Football Playoff (Allen likes the current four-team format), Joe Tiller (Allen wishes the former Purdue coach good health), the importance of November games, and comparing coaching in the SEC West and Big Ten East (which Allen feels are the top two divisions in college football).
10:35 a.m.: Allen, on the way to his next stop, is interviewed in impromptu fashion by first-grader Molly Malcolm, daughter of a Big Ten Network staffer. Molly gets a hug from the coach.
10:45 a.m.: Allen interviewed by ESPN, during which we learn that Bo Jackson is perhaps his favorite athlete all-time, that the loudest venue he's ever experienced is "LSU, at night, no question," that he recalls dressing as a hobo one Halloween as a kid, that he'd like to visit the Statue of Liberty and that he ran all the way down to celebrate in the end zone during a semistate win while coaching Ben Davis High School (jumping on the kid who scored, whose helmet gave the coach a black eye).
10:45 a.m.: Players to Sports Lite, the BTN show hosted by Mike Hall, where they defeat Iowa counterparts in "speed Jenga" and "speed alphabet recitation" events.
11 a.m.: Allen to CBS Sports, where he says that if freed from football coaching's demands he'd spend more time with his family and read more, that he favors any combination of chocolate and peanut butter, that he has 32 aunts and uncles and always loved seeing the whole family gathered for Thanksgiving, and that he relishes running (3 miles per day).
11:10 a.m.: Fant introduces himself to an ESPN.com producer as "Deion Sanders."
11:15 a.m. Allen to Sirius XM College Sports Nation, radio, where he's interviewed by Rick Neuheisel, A.J. Hawk and Chris Childers and notes that erstwhile IU coach Kevin Wilson "is a friend, who hired me, who brought me home."
12 p.m.: Allen to BTN Marketing. Catch-phrases get intoned. Footballs get signed.
12:15-12:30 p.m.: Allen's session before all the assembled media at the main ballroom. He begins by saying he is honored to represent his home state as a coach, thanking IU director of athletics Fred Glass and IU president Michael McRobbie for the opportunity. He again thanks Kevin Wilson for laying a foundation upon which Allen can build after back-to-back bowl seasons. He talks about the current challenge to "break through," notes that it has been 50 years since IU won the Big Ten, 26 years since it won a bowl game and 10 years since it finished with a winning season. He vows to end all those streaks through his Love Each Other philosophy that, having pervaded the defense last season, is now taking hold team-wide.
12:45 p.m.: Allen to BigTen.org.
1 p.m.: Allen to USA Football (the national governing body for amateur football, located in Indianapolis). Allen talks about making the sport safer, then speaks fondly of his decade coaching high school ball in Indiana and of growing up as the son of a coach in New Castle. He says, "I coach my team like they are all my sons."
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Players to segments for BTN, BTN The Journey, CBS, ESPN and Fox.
1:45 p.m. Allen to Sports Lite. This time, unlike the spring, Allen does not demonstrate wrestling moves (and in the process body slam host Mike Hall). But he does win the "quote quiz."
2:15-2:30 p.m.: Allen to BTN studio set where, among a great many other things, he gives former Hoosier coaching great Bill Mallory a shout-out
2:30-3:35 p.m. Allen to designated media interview podium, exceeding the full hour allotted while covering pretty much every topic previously addressed during the day, then pretty much every other topic under the sun.
3:45-4:45 p.m.: Players to their designated media podiums. Another hour of questions old and new.
4:45-5 p.m.: Players to the BTN studio set to confer collectively with host Dave Revsine.
6:30-9 p.m.: IU Alumni Association Chicago Chapter meet-and-greet with Hoosier officials and fans at Joe's on Weed Street.
John Lennon, after the rooftop concert during the Let It Be sessions a year and a half after Sgt. Peppers was released, jocularly said that he hoped his group had "passed the audition."
IU's group at the 2017 Big Ten Football Media Days certainly did.
IUHoosiers.com
CHICAGO - The Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" 50 years ago this summer. That epoch-altering album was capped by epic song, "A Day in the Life" (itself concluded by an extended E chord to end all E chords).
Monday's opening session at Big Ten Football Media Days also droned on a bit. But much of its Indiana aspects qualified as music to Hoosier fans' ears.
There seemed little doubt that Tom Allen, entering his first full season as IU's head coach, struck a very positive chord.
So did Indiana's trio of senior representatives, cornerback Rashard Fant, quarterback Richard Lagow and linebacker Tegray Scales.
What follows is a basic rundown of the day's Hoosier activities at the sprawling McCormick's Place facility.
(A very busy day in the lives of all four men).
9 a.m.: Breakfast.
9:30 a.m.: "Team photo" in the convention center lobby with Allen and his players suited up in true sartorial splendor, highlighted by Scales' bow tie.
9:45 a.m.: Allen to the Fox Sports antechamber to start the day's barrage of interviews, and the players to Fox Photo, where they don 2017 crimson IU football jerseys. Looking for varied facial expressions, a photographer asks the players to give him "game day" and "championship" faces. Scales, subsequently asked how he likes doing photo shoots, responds with the customary honesty exhibited by all the Hoosiers: "Not a big fan."
10 a.m. Players to Fox Marketing. They shill successfully.
10:15 a.m.: Allen to BTN, interviewed by producer Rob Michel. Just a small sampling of the topics addressed: the Aug. 31 season opener (hosting Ohio State and new Buckeye offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson), the "targeting" rule (Allen favors it, especially now review is part of applying it), the new and additional December signing period (Allen has mixed emotions), the College Football Playoff (Allen likes the current four-team format), Joe Tiller (Allen wishes the former Purdue coach good health), the importance of November games, and comparing coaching in the SEC West and Big Ten East (which Allen feels are the top two divisions in college football).
10:35 a.m.: Allen, on the way to his next stop, is interviewed in impromptu fashion by first-grader Molly Malcolm, daughter of a Big Ten Network staffer. Molly gets a hug from the coach.
10:45 a.m.: Allen interviewed by ESPN, during which we learn that Bo Jackson is perhaps his favorite athlete all-time, that the loudest venue he's ever experienced is "LSU, at night, no question," that he recalls dressing as a hobo one Halloween as a kid, that he'd like to visit the Statue of Liberty and that he ran all the way down to celebrate in the end zone during a semistate win while coaching Ben Davis High School (jumping on the kid who scored, whose helmet gave the coach a black eye).
10:45 a.m.: Players to Sports Lite, the BTN show hosted by Mike Hall, where they defeat Iowa counterparts in "speed Jenga" and "speed alphabet recitation" events.
11 a.m.: Allen to CBS Sports, where he says that if freed from football coaching's demands he'd spend more time with his family and read more, that he favors any combination of chocolate and peanut butter, that he has 32 aunts and uncles and always loved seeing the whole family gathered for Thanksgiving, and that he relishes running (3 miles per day).
11:10 a.m.: Fant introduces himself to an ESPN.com producer as "Deion Sanders."
11:15 a.m. Allen to Sirius XM College Sports Nation, radio, where he's interviewed by Rick Neuheisel, A.J. Hawk and Chris Childers and notes that erstwhile IU coach Kevin Wilson "is a friend, who hired me, who brought me home."
12 p.m.: Allen to BTN Marketing. Catch-phrases get intoned. Footballs get signed.
12:15-12:30 p.m.: Allen's session before all the assembled media at the main ballroom. He begins by saying he is honored to represent his home state as a coach, thanking IU director of athletics Fred Glass and IU president Michael McRobbie for the opportunity. He again thanks Kevin Wilson for laying a foundation upon which Allen can build after back-to-back bowl seasons. He talks about the current challenge to "break through," notes that it has been 50 years since IU won the Big Ten, 26 years since it won a bowl game and 10 years since it finished with a winning season. He vows to end all those streaks through his Love Each Other philosophy that, having pervaded the defense last season, is now taking hold team-wide.
12:45 p.m.: Allen to BigTen.org.
1 p.m.: Allen to USA Football (the national governing body for amateur football, located in Indianapolis). Allen talks about making the sport safer, then speaks fondly of his decade coaching high school ball in Indiana and of growing up as the son of a coach in New Castle. He says, "I coach my team like they are all my sons."
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Players to segments for BTN, BTN The Journey, CBS, ESPN and Fox.
1:45 p.m. Allen to Sports Lite. This time, unlike the spring, Allen does not demonstrate wrestling moves (and in the process body slam host Mike Hall). But he does win the "quote quiz."
2:15-2:30 p.m.: Allen to BTN studio set where, among a great many other things, he gives former Hoosier coaching great Bill Mallory a shout-out
2:30-3:35 p.m. Allen to designated media interview podium, exceeding the full hour allotted while covering pretty much every topic previously addressed during the day, then pretty much every other topic under the sun.
3:45-4:45 p.m.: Players to their designated media podiums. Another hour of questions old and new.
4:45-5 p.m.: Players to the BTN studio set to confer collectively with host Dave Revsine.
6:30-9 p.m.: IU Alumni Association Chicago Chapter meet-and-greet with Hoosier officials and fans at Joe's on Weed Street.
John Lennon, after the rooftop concert during the Let It Be sessions a year and a half after Sgt. Peppers was released, jocularly said that he hoped his group had "passed the audition."
IU's group at the 2017 Big Ten Football Media Days certainly did.
Players Mentioned
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (9/15/25)
Monday, September 15
FB: Omar Cooper - ISU Postgame Press Conference (09/12/25))
Friday, September 12
FB: Fernando Mendoza - ISU Postgame Press Conference (09/12/25)
Friday, September 12
FB: Week 3 (Indiana State) - Curt Cignetti Postgame Press Conference
Friday, September 12