Delany delivers message to Big Ten coaches

Before the Big Ten's 12 head coaches waded into the sea of media at McCormick Place on Thursday, they sat for a Jim Delany lecture.

With Ohio State's and Michigan's recent problems serving as two of the bigger welts on the face of college football, the Big Ten's longtime commissioner took 30-40 minutes to remind the coaches of some basics Jim Tressel never learned.

Keep in mind, this wasn't a regularly scheduled meeting.

“I wanted to call them together today and speak to them candidly and from the heart,” Delany said of his first facetime with the league's coaches since Tressel's forced resignation. “Explain to them that, in many ways, the game is as healthy as it's ever been.

“But also, in my view, that we have as a conference been hurt by the two institutions that have been involved in NCAA allegations and findings — and that I wanted to let them know that I expected them to lead their programs in a way that wouldn't put us in that circumstance again.”

When Ohio State and Michigan are caught doing wrong, there's no greater black eye for the Big Ten.

Yes, Penn State and Nebraska are equal parts of the conference. They're pillars of the sport.

But when the culprits are “The Big Two,” as they've been known since the days of Schembechler and Hayes, it hits the Big Ten at its core.

Similar to the national intuition that every SEC school cheats, Tressel's willful ignorance makes one wonder whether he's the rule more than the exception in the Big Ten.

Delany wants to stamp out that perception before it takes root.

“I said (in the meeting) I want to make sure that everybody in this room understands,” Delany said, “when you come across certain kinds of information, you have a responsibility to report it up the chain of command. You do not have any discretion about that. They understand that.”

I have no doubt Big Ten coaches know right from wrong.

Here's the thing: Maybe there's professional courtesy at work here, but the coaches talk out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to guys such as Tressel.

Here's Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema before hundreds of media and national TV networks around 10:20 a.m. Thursday:

“If I had a dream world, I would say hammer the guys that don't do it right. To me in my profession, the only thing I get very frustrated about is when I know things go on that aren't right — mainly in recruiting.

“People are willingly and knowingly abusing rules and breaking things. To me, when you are consciously aware of abusing a rule, there's no excuse for that.”

Now here's Bielema speaking with perhaps 20 writers in a less formal setup around 10:40 a.m. Thursday. He prefaced these words by recounting how much Tressel helped him during his early years as Wisconsin's boss:

“Unfortunately, obviously, the situation arose there,” Bielema said. “But it doesn't change my opinion about who he is or what he is or the program he built. To win six Big Ten championships? That doesn't just happen.

“You've got a lot of good coaches and a lot of good football players that were able to do that — and he's responsible for all of it.”

Bielema is a sharp guy who chooses words carefully, but I wonder whether he recognizes these serve as an endorsement of Tressel's empire-building tactics.

As Delany and other conference commissioners embark on their crusade to bring college football into the 21st century — in terms of student-athlete compensation as well as a re-emphasis on doing things the right way — they have to realize the coaches will be the hardest to change.

For all of Delany's candid and firm words to his guys Thursday morning, it's unlikely a single one will modify the way he does business.

Judging by college football's unstoppable popularity, perhaps that's just fine.