The Wolverine

It's not any more important or any less important." Chryst, who coached tight ends under Riley with the Chargers while Harbaugh was there, doesn't expect any issues in the Michigan coach tran- sitioning back to the college game. "Jim did a pretty good job of adjust- ing from college to the NFL," Chryst said. "Jim coming back, I don't think that will be a problem for Jim at all." VETERANS VERSUS ROOKIES Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is also well ac- quainted with Harbaugh, and agrees that he'll continue to do what he's always done — win a lot of football games. "I've had great respect for him, and most importantly, for the way his teams have performed and played, be it at Stanford or the 49ers," Ferentz noted. "We were actually in Baltimore together [with the NFL's Ravens]. I was a coach, he was a player. So we go back a ways." It's different for Harbaugh, Riley and Chryst coming into their first games with their respective teams, the Iowa coach stressed. Ferentz took over the Hawkeyes in 1999 in his first head coaching job, losing to No. 5 Nebraska in the season opener, 42-7, and tum- bling to a 1-10 record. The Hawkeyes fell to 3-8 in Hayden Fry's final season, and it took a while to pull them back up. Ferentz doesn't foresee any such struggles for the three Big Ten newcomers. "All the guys we're referring to are really good coaches," Ferentz said. "They know what they're doing. It's a different circumstance, different en- vironment. The game doesn't really change that much. "No matter what division or confer- ence, we want to do the best we can. I'll tell you what, I don't think any of those guys need tips from me. That's for sure. They're all good coaches." Indiana's Kevin Wilson endured a misery-laden start himself, as a first- time college head coach back in 2011. The Hoosiers went 1-11, dropping the season opener at home to Mid-Ameri- can Conference foe Ball State. Wilson also stressed the differences in his situation and those of the new bosses on the Big Ten block. "We played a pretty good oppo- nent and had a bad outing," Wilson recalled. "That was my first game, but all the new coaches coming in now have been very, very successful. "To them, they're just anxious to get their teams out and see what they've got. It's the first time putting all the components together, between Coach Riley, Coach Harbaugh and Coach Chryst. They've been down the road a few times. They'll be in a much differ- ent place than I was." Harbaugh won't talk much about how successful he intends to be in the days to come. Again, he'd rather be about it. He wants to see precision. He wants to see toughness. He wants to see dom- inance. It starts in fall practice, and the first test comes early. "We'll know when we play Utah on Sept. 3," Harbaugh assured. "That is a quality, physical football team. We'll have a much better assessment of where we are then." ❏

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