Coaches quotes from Big Ten football media days

Coach quotes, day 1

Big Ten media days kicked off with seven of the 14 conference members in the spotlight. Here are some highlights of the coaches' comments:

New Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst on the Badgers' depth, and on his return to the program:

"There are players at Wisconsin that know how to win and what it takes to win. ... We've got great leadership from the seniors, juniors, and we've got a young group of players that I think are anxious and ready to follow their lead."

"There's so many great things for me coming back to the University of Wisconsin. But the best part of coaching to me always has been working with the players and helping those individuals be the best they can be, and then getting a group of individuals to be the best team that we can be."

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on overcoming setbacks:

"There's no perfect team. There's no perfect program. And everyone deals with stuff. When you're Ohio State or some of these other big-time programs, stuff becomes a major deal. … All we can do is watch the indicators, watch it closely, and then dive into it with a sledgehammer if we start to see something that's disrupting the team. And we've dealt with one [the suspension of four players including All-America Joey Bosa for the season opener]. And I knew this was coming for a while. And at some point, we're going to have to address it and we did."

"I've said all along that great football is played in the Big Ten Conference, as it is played in all these other conferences. Great football. There's a lot of parity in college football. Things hang by the inches. When people get hot, great things can happen. And I think you saw that last year [with Ohio State]."

Illinois coach Tim Beckman on an investigation into allegations he mistreated players:

"The philosophy that we continue to use is what these football players believe in. … We're fathers. I think that each one of our coaches would say the same thing. We're in the process of providing avenues for our football players to become better men, become better football players. We want the best. We want a relationship for a lifetime as we talk to them. We want to be able to communicate with one another throughout their lives. So, as a football coach and as being the part of a football program, I think those are very essential parts of leading young men."