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Day Two of the 2015 Big Ten Media Days weren’t as hectic and crazy as the first day when Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin were involved. Even so, with Jim Harbaugh as the headliner, and with Mike Riley and James Franklin involved, there was no shortage of storylines.

Jim Harbaugh is having lots of fun

Jim Harbaugh might have been all over the place with some of his answers in the roundtable setting, and he might have been hounded by handlers considering his rock star status at the moment, but to sum up his first trip to the Big Ten Media Days as the Michigan head football coach, it would be that – especially compared to Mr. Meyer – he was … fun?

There wasn’t anything combative or defensive about his answers, and he was playful when he had his chances have a good time with the entire process. However, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

He doesn’t help out reporters who ask vague or indirect questions – if it was anyone else answering like he occasionally did, it would come across as being aloof or arrogant. Instead, if someone asked anything dopey, or something he just didn’t feel like talking about, he’d give a quick response, look for someone else to ask a question, and life would go on. He wasn’t a jerk about it; he was just Harbaugh being Harbaugh.

And he didn’t take the bait whenever anyone tried to get him to say something worthy of bulletin board material.

He had nothing but nice things to say about Urban Meyer, and he didn’t pander to the stupid by saying something disparaging about Ohio State or Michigan State when asked the obligatory rivalry questions. There wasn’t anything dumb about hating all things Ohio, and he didn’t suggest he wouldn’t wear something that had dark green or scarlet red, because he, more than anyone, knows that stuff like that just doesn’t matter. The rivalries will take care of themselves, and while he knows the importance of them – going into detail about fun sports rivalries when he was a kid – he alluded to knowing that the time for that is coming soon.

Over and over again, he kept saying he mostly cared about seeing what he had to work with on Friday once practice started again, and while Ohio State and Michigan State are important, no opponent right now matters more in his world than Utah in the opener.

That’s what a mature head coach says and does.

Harbaugh values greatness, and considering his background of influential football figures in his life from his dad, to Bo Schembechler, to Mike Ditka, to Al Davis, and so on, he had nothing but respect for the other Big Ten coaches and wasn’t combative in any way.

The real test to his relationship with the media will be when the bullets start flying and the stress of the season kicks in, but for now, this was Harbaugh’s moment and these were his 2015 Big Ten media days.

You’ve heard of and seen all the More Cowbell t-shirts? Compared to dealing with most coaches, I want More Harbaugh.

James Franklin is the perfect head coach for Penn State

Bill O’Brien did what he had to do. He took over a horrific situation and tried to keep the Penn State football life going showing class and dignity throughout all the absurdity. There was zero fun, sir, in the O’Brien era, mostly because it wasn’t the time for it.

Everything is different now under James Franklin.

There might be question marks about Franklin’s X’s and O’s coaching ability, and he might go down as the guy who ruined Christian Hackenberg if the bounceback doesn’t come, but in terms of the right personality, the right figurehead, and the right ambassador for a school and a football program that still elicits an emotional response, he’s absolutely perfect.

There isn’t a hand he isn’t happy to shake, there isn’t a question he won’t answer, and most of all considering his role, the man likes to talk.

Along with Purdue’s Darrell Hazell, Franklin was easily the most approachable and personable coach to talk to. Several other Big Ten head coaches don’t act like they’re above simply having a conversation, but Franklin was the most engaging of the bunch.

He might talk a million miles an hour, and he might come across like part motivational speaker and part preacher, but it goes a long, long way to not have the dour, guarded, measured tones that’s standard for the profession. If and when he’s ever done with the coaching world, he’ll become a superstar TV personality.

And then there’s the biggest key in today’s day and age – his relative youth. At just 43 – almost half the age of Joe Paterno in his final year – Franklin brings the spark, the energy, and a sense of hipness to what used to be the squarest of programs.

Every good coach uses the social media world as a tool now, and all of them say they’re involved in some way, but Franklin really does dive in, going into detail about how he uses various forms of communication to stay in touch with his players – and to monitor others. All big-time programs monitor the players to make sure they’re not drinking and tweeting at 3 am on a Saturday, but Franklin is the one who’s actually on it.

Could you imagine Paterno direct messaging a backup offensive tackle at 5:45 in the morning with something motivational?

In his second year with the program, Franklin was definitely more comfortable than he was last media days when he had to still deal with the Penn State past. Now it really is about going forward, being one coach removed from the controversy, and now he can just let it rip.

He’s killing it on the recruiting trail, and he’s not afraid to let anyone and everyone know that he’s not going to allow Penn State to just be along for the ride in the loaded Big Ten East.

Everyone wanted to talk about how Jim Harbaugh is going to blow into the Big Ten East and take it by storm, but after these Big Ten media days, on personality alone – which is 94% of the recruiting battle – don’t be shocked if that guy is Franklin over the next few years.

Tommy Armstrong is ready to shine

Mike Riley has never really had a quarterback like Tommy Armstrong. Riley’s passers are usually just that, passers, and if they happen to gain a few yards rushing, it’s like found money.

Now comes the square peg into the round hole part of the new coaching hire.

Armstrong can throw, completing 53% of his passes for 2,695 yards and 22 touchdowns with 12 picks last year, but he’s built like a tough running back and can take off like one, running for 705 yards and six scores.

So what will Riley do? Will he try to turn Armstrong into a pure passer, or will he adapt to his quarterback’s skills? It seems like it’s going to be a little bit of both.

Armstrong blew off the idea that he has to change his style throwing the ball.

“A slant is still a slant. It’s just passing.”

So while he might not become former Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion winging it all around the yard, Armstrong is going to give Riley a playmaker who can take off for ten yards on a whim. It’s all going to be part of the plan.

In the tutoring of Armstrong, Riley and the coaching staff are making sure their main man knows all the options available, and they’re taking the pressure off by just letting him play. If it’s 3rd-and-2 and there’s a chance to run, take the first down. If it’s 1st-and-10 and nothing is there, in Armstrong’s words, “throw to the running back.”

When there’s nothing happening down the field, “throw to the running back, throw to the running back, throw to the running back.” Armstrong knows who his new best friends are.

So for as hard is it might appear to be to change offensive philosophies, the head coach isn’t concerned, and the starting quarterback talked like he knows what he has to do.

Armstrong has the leadership side of things down, especially now that he’s a junior, going beyond the clichés of having to work hard and needing to motivate the rest of the guys. Now it’s about diving into the film study in a whole different way, accept that he has a former NFL head coach who knows how to get an offense moving, and to understand that it’s going to be a bit of a process.

And when all else fails, just throw it to the running back.

Mike Riley isn’t Bo Pelini

I’ve always been a Bo Pelini apologist. He was always cool when I talked to him, and I’ve always marveled at how the guy could win nine or more games a year, every year, and yet not get any credit for his consistency. But he wasn’t really a fit for Nebraska considering his gruff style and general strangeness.

And getting the doors blown off by Wisconsin didn’t help the cause.

But Riley isn’t exactly the Nebraska type, either – at least if the standard for Husker personality and demeanor is Tom Osborne.

Riley isn’t a fire-and-brimstone guy, and he’s certainly not a football-is-life type of coach. Extremely nice, very open, and ready to talk about whatever is thrown at him, he’s not Pelini, and that alone is a start.

I talked to at least ten different members of the media who had roughly the same sort of thought that Riley – because, again, he’s not Pelini – could win eight games this year and everyone would be happy, even though Pelini would probably come up with ten victories with this team.

It’s still a curious hire.

Having just turned 62, this is the last coaching stop in an interesting career defined mostly for its longevity, but not really a whole bunch else. He only came up with eight winning seasons in his 14 years at Oregon State, went 14-34 in the NFL, 40-32 in the CFL, and came up with a 5-7 2014 campaign before getting the call from Nebraska. And why was he so sought after?

He’s not Bo Pelini.

Riley mentioned a few different times that he thought Oregon State was his last stop, but considering he looks, talks, and acts like a guy at least ten years younger, his age doesn’t appear to be an issue. Throw his energy and excitement into the equation, and Riley is a different sort of coach and a bit of a breath of fresh air.

And as my man Steve Greenberg tweeted, “I’d like to lock Mike Riley and Tim Miles in a cage and see which of them snaps first, but they’d only melt the steel with their kindness.”

Nebraska is definitely recruiting its coaches to a type, and for now, Riley fits.

That’ll change if he doesn’t make Nebraska a superpower again.

No Big Ten vs. FCS games

It wasn’t really a major news flash when commissioner Jim Delany made a big deal out of the Big Ten’s unwritten and to-be-unenforced policy of not scheduling games against FCS teams, but it’s certainly a positive overall.

Okay, fine, so it means Indiana will schedule a game against a Sun Belt team instead of Southern Illinois, and Maryland will probably take on a bad Conference USA program instead of Richmond, but okay. The Group of Five FBS teams just want to play the Power 5ers when the chances are there, and at least there’s a chance for an extra competitive game here and there.

Considering the MAC gave the Big Ten fits early last year, don’t take this move away from the FCS for granted.

This year, half the teams – Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin – don’t play FCSers, and because of that, Minnesota is going to Colorado State in Week 2 instead of playing Indiana State, Purdue’s foe. Nebraska is facing BYU in the opener, while Iowa takes on Illinois State. Michigan State is going down the road to face Western Michigan, while Rutgers plays Norfolk State.

Good, Big Ten. Get rid of these money dump sure-win FCS games. There’s no need for them. Now get the other Power 5 conferences to all follow suit.

Minnesota: The ignored program

Considering Minnesota plays in the 15th-largest TV market in the country – only New York, if you want to give Rutgers credit for that, Chicago, and Detroit are bigger in the Big Ten scope – you’d think there’d be a little more interest in a team coming off its best season in years and had a shot at the East title on the final day.

But instead, the Gophers suffered from being in the room for Big Ten media days at the exact same time Jim Harbaugh was doing his thing and just as James Franklin was wrapping things up.

Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill might not be flashy like several of the other coaches, and he might not have the superstar status on a national scale, but he has the utmost, unquestioned respect of every other coach in the room. Every coach always seemed to mention Kill first or second when talking about the talented coaches in the Big Ten. In terms of pure football ability, Kill can hang with the giants.

Yet the team that was ranked fifth among all Big Ten squads in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll – barely behind Nebraska and just ahead of Penn State – was largely ignored.

Mitch Leidner is a veteran quarterback who’s coming into his own, but few reporters took the time to sit down with him. Theiren Cockran is a hybrid NFL pass rushing prospect – and was the best-dressed player at Big Ten media days – but no one seemed interested in talking to him.

But what happens if Minnesota shocks No. 2 TCU to open the season?

“We’re going to bring in a little bit of snow, some artificial snow in there,” said Kill. “See how they can handle that snow there in September.

But the Gophers might not need the help. With the running game, the tremendous secondary, and the right coaching, they might be good enough to pull off the upset, and then everyone will be talking about them.

And they’ll be mad they missed out on the chance to know these guys more in Chicago.