Indiana University Athletics
Big Ten Media Day Gets Underway
7/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 23, 2003
Chicago, Ill. - The Big Ten Media Day kickoff began on Wednesday morning at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. Indiana head coach Gerry DiNardo along with fifth-year seniors Joe Gonzalez and Brian Lewis arrived in the Windy City around 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
"One thing that changes in your second year with a program is that things run a lot smoother and everyone knows their team. So from that standpoint, it is drastically different from a year ago. One thing that is the same is that one of our greatest challenges is our numbers remain level. We were at about 65 scholarship players last season, and we are about the same this year. A year from now, our numbers will be where they should be with 85 scholarships. The thing that has changed is the way we precede every day, our team culture, what we do and how we work. The thing that hasn't changed is that we are fighting the numbers battle. We will do that through this year and then a year from now we will be at full strength."
"I think any time you lose a player, regardless of who it is when your numbers are down, it is not a positive. It depends on who replaces him, and it depends on if the guy that replaces him plays better than he did a year ago because it won't hurt us very much. But if he doesn't play as well as he played than it will hurt us. When you are building a program, you have to get a team guy or it doesn't work. So everyone that is involved with our program has to put the program first. So we are going to have some attrition. It is unfortunate because you don't want to lose anybody, but I am looking for team guys and that is what I want."
"Matt's maturity and experience have served him well. He had a positive attitude about the change, and he has fit in very well with our players. He loves to play the game, and when you get around a kid that football is that important to, it usually works pretty well. He has really fit in with our team and has a lot in common with our team. He has really done a nice job making a very difficult switch."
"It is not much improved with scholarship players because we have about the same numbers as a year ago. When you are at 65 scholarships, what happens to you to balance it off is that your depth will be ok a certain positions. By way of example, our depth at wide receiver is good. When you take over a program that has number problems, they usually manifest themselves in the line, both offensively and defensively. So we are still not where we should be at this point with scholarships. Our depth at the skilled positions is ok, but our depth with the big guys is still not where it should be. Where it has improved is with our non-scholarship players. We have been very active recruiting non-scholarship players. We had two visitation weekends for non-scholarship players, and we recruit non-scholarship players as hard as we recruit scholarship players just to make sure that the quality of our 105 will be better this year than what it was a year ago. We feel that 65 to 105 is really where we made some improvement."
"I have been in the Big 8, which is the Big 12 now, the SEC and now the Big Ten, and I don't know that there is an easy conference to show improvement. I think it is our job as coaches is to show the players their improvement. The easiest way to show improvement is by wins and losses, and they get enough of that from everyone else. It is our job to show where we are improving and to keep the team and program positive. If you lose and play poorly it is hard, but if you lose and play well than it is a little easier."
"I think we are better up front. We lose (Kris) Dielman, and he was our best, but other than that we are going to be a better front than we were a year ago. I feel like we are going to be a better secondary than we were a year ago. The question mark and cause for concern is our lack of depth at linebacker. We have two scholarship linebackers on the team during the spring, and we are bringing in four, so we have six. We really need 10. Ten in our minds is the right number for our system with 85 scholarships. It always happens where you have the least amount of depth that is where your problems usually surface. Only two scholarship linebackers return from last year and have Big Ten experience. On defense, that is our concern. Our concern is not on the guys we have, but the number of guys we have."
DiNardo's day started with print and radio interviews at 10:15 a.m. in the Regency's West Tower. He was the sixth Big Ten head coach into the room following Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez, Northwestern's Randy Walker, Purdue's Joe Tiller, Illinois' Ron Turner and Michigan State's John L. Smith. Each coach had a 15-minute press conference. The range of questions asked of the second-year Hoosier coach included depth, improvement, junior quarterback Matt LoVecchio and former Hoosier linebacker John Kerr. Below is a transcript of DiNardo's press conference.
Gonzalez and Lewis started the afternoon with one-on-one interviews with ESPN. Each Big Ten school brought two student-athletes to the event, and ESPN had one-on-one interviews with both players.
DiNardo was the first in for TV interviews at 2 p.m. In the format, there were three TV stations at each of 11 positions, and the coaches rotated around the room. Gonzalez and Lewis followed their head coach at 3:30 p.m. The format for the player TV interviews were the same. Gonzalez fielded questions dealing with a possible match up with his younger brother Tony, who is a freshman wide receiver at Ohio State this season. He also talked about the second season of DiNardo. Lewis fielded questions about playing under DiNardo and junior quarterback Matt LoVecchio.
The three Hoosiers will take part in interviews on Thursday, July 24 before taking part in an autograph and photo session at 10 a.m. The 32nd Annual Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon will be at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.
The Hoosiers will open their 2003 campaign on the road in just over five weeks. Indiana will travel to Connecticut to battle the Huskies as they open their new stadium, Rentschler Field. The game is set for August 30 at 11:00 a.m. For ticket information call 1-866-IUSPORTS.
Indiana Head Coach Gerry DiNardo
Opening Statement:
Commenting on the loss of John Kerr:
Commenting on junior quarterback Matt LoVecchio handling the pressure of the move from Notre Dame:
Commenting on the team's depth:
Commenting on the difficulty of measuring improvement in the Big Ten:
Commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of the defense and their potential for improving over last year:
