LIVE! Bielema: 'We've got a lot of unfinished business'

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Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who FOX Sports' Joel Klatt called one of the best coaches in the country during his introduction, kicks things off for the Big Ten coaches at the podium. One of the first topics Bielema hit was season tickets sales, with an official press release this morning touting the sales of more than 9,500 new season tickets.
Building a program
I've been a head coach 15 years. I think about what I learned as a player and an assistant, and it's so important to stay on top of everything that touches our players' lives. ... We were actually tied for second for fewest portal transfers lost. Kids like bing in our program. They like the way they're treated. They like the approach.
Adding Jim Leonhard
I learned early he knows the game. I stayed in touch with him during his entire NFL career. ... When he didn't get retained, I reached out to him. about what he wanted to do. I invited him down to spend a couple days with our staff. He'll handle responsibilities that touch all three phases of the game. He won't be with us on gamedays. He'll be in the office Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday and then be with his family on the weekends.
Sustaining success
When we were here a year ago I wasn't going to put a prediction on how many wins we were going to have, but I thought we were going to be a bowl team. ... We've got a lot of unfinished business. We were an 8-5 team, but it broke up into a 7-1 team and a 1-4 team. I focus on the 1-4.
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Believe it or not, new Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti thanked the conference's media partners during his introductory statement to kick things off at Big Ten media days. Petitti is zeroing in on his first 100 days on the job. Or as he said, making a baseball reference, enough dirt on his spikes to have a feel for what's going on.
Situation at Northwestern
The process in the conference on these matters is it's led by the institution. We'll wait to see the results of (Northwestern's) investigations, and we'll have further comments at that time.
Discussions about hazing
When something like this happens our member institutions are going to take it upon themselves to do that.
Big Ten expansion
All the direction I'm getting from leadership, from chancellors and presidents and athletic directors, is to focus on USC and UCLA. We have a lot of work to do there. I'm proud of the scheduling format we came up with for football. ... I'm not getting direction other than that.
Transfer portal
One of the things we're most focused on are the incentives created for students to leave. ... The portal is an absolute priority. The combination of what's happening in terms of the benefits that are being provided and the freedom to move came at the same time. ... I think the first idea is what can you do around the incentives? We really need to spend a lot of time on that. I talk about the difference between true NIL and the NIL that really isn't NIL. They're two very different things.
NIL
When I say true NIL, I mean the ability of a student-athlete to take advantage of their marketing rights. That depends on your ability, the exposure you receive and your social media. ... We're seeing money move in different places, and it's away from our member institutions. We have very long-standing rules to address that, and we need to enforce our rules.
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Good morning from Indianapolis! Big Ten media days will start soon from Lucas Oil Stadium, with Illinois coach Bret Bielema the first coach to hit the podium after a half-hour long session with first-year conference commissioner Tony Petitti.
Isaiah Williams (a Big Ten media days veteran), Johnny Newton and Keith Randolph will represent the Illini with their own interview sessions later this afternoon. Athletic director Josh Whitman should also be available.
So ... lots of content coming from Indianapolis.
The early news this morning is Newton earning Big Ten preseason honors. The Illinois defensive tackle was one of 10 players recognized, and he's the first Illini to land in that company since Nathan Scheelhaase did in 2011. You might remember that era of the Big Ten ... when the divisions were dubbed "Legends" and "Leaders" for some reason that still doesn't make a ton of sense.
Newton was a consensus All-Big Ten First Team honors following a dominant 2022 season. He registered career highs in tackles (62), tackles for loss (14), sacks (5 1/2) and fumble recoveries (two). Newton was the lone Big Ten defensive lineman to play at least 400 snaps, started all 13 games for the Orange and Blue and earned Second Team All-American status from Associated Press, CBS, PFF and Walter Camp and Third Team All-America from Phil Steele.
A key piece of the Illini's top-ranked scoring defense last season, Newton led Power Five interior defensive linemen in pressures, tied for the most quarterback hits in the nation and earned PFF's highest defensive, run defense, and pass rush grades among conference players at his position.
Heading into the 2023 season, Newton has also secured preseason All-America and All-Big Ten honors from Athlon and Phil Steele and was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List.
Iowa's Cooper DeJean, Minnesota's Brevyn Spann-Ford and Tyler Nubin, and Wisconsin's Braelon Allen rounded out the list of Big Ten West honorees, while Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa, Michigan's Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy, Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., and Penn State's Olumuyiwa Fashanu are the conference's Big Ten East representatives.
Stick with IlliniHQ.com throughout the day for more, including plenty from Petitti and Bielema in the next couple hours.