Lloyd Carr says it should be up to the players. Barry Alvarez thinks it's necessary. Gerry DiNardo says things are out of control.
But all agree that it's for the money.
Regardless of the reasoning, Big Ten coaches are heavily divided on the recent debate to permanently expand the college football regular season to 12 games.
The main impetus for the change is the additional revenue that schools could make by playing a 12th game, money on which entire athletic departments depend.
The legislation is currently going through a series of committees and a final decision on the matter will come from a panel of 11 Division I-A presidents in April.
Big Ten coaches like Carr and Penn State's Joe Paterno believe the legislation will pass, regardless of their personal opinions on the subject. But even if the measure is approved, it likely won't be implemented next season and might not come until the 2009 season.
Carr said that though he hopes the presidents reject the legislation, he believes "almost assuredly they will" approve it. Carr said the players should have a say in the decision and that only nine or 10 players on his team were in favor of the extra game.
Other conference coaches like Alvarez, who has the distinction of being both the Badgers coach and the school's athletic director, said the money is important but there are other factors as well.
"The [athletic] departments need the finances from a 12th game," he said. "And in our last four years we've played 12 games, 13 games, 14 games with a bowl. The players want to play. A survey of Pac-10 teams was overwhelming that they want to play."
Paterno is against adding a 12th game, but like Carr seemed to be accepting of its inevitability. As an alternative, Paterno suggested that athletic departments like the one at Penn State could "cut out excesses."
"We send the volleyball team somewhere, we send somebody to Italy," Paterno said. "If we cut it down, we might be better off."
Penn State's women's basketball team traveled to Italy over the summer to play exhibition games against local clubs.
Indiana's DiNardo said he understands the financial boon that a 12th game would create, but opposes it on all other grounds.
The Hoosiers coach said his main fear is that college football is rapidly becoming like the NFL and that he believes that another game would further that transition.
"Enough is enough," DiNardo said. "This is strictly for the money. You can't argue against it from a financial standpoint but from every other educational standpoint, you can. We've created a monster that's out of control and we're trying to feed it any way we can."
The current NCAA rule allows for 12 games to be played in years when there are 14 Saturdays from the first playing date to the final playing date in November. This criterion was met in 2002 and 2003 and most teams scheduled 12 games in those seasons, including Michigan and Penn State.
Michigan State coach John L. Smith cited this fact in his defense of the legislation, which is one of the main points that the conference proposing the change -- the Big XII -- is using.
"We just went through a couple of 12 game seasons and were they worrying about it then?" Smith said of the legislation's detractors. "They say it's for the student's welfare -- don't tell me that."
Notes
Wisconsin running back Anthony Davis was cleared by doctors to play Saturday against Illinois after missing the past three games with an eye injury. Alvarez said because of that ailment and other injuries in his backfield, fullback Matt Bernstein would likely start the game at tailback.
Minnesota coach Glen Mason laughed when asked if the Golden Gophers were bullies for throwing an option pass while up 19 in the fourth quarter against Northwestern last Saturday: "I'm amused that people are calling Minnesota a bully," Mason said. "I guess we're making progress."
Mason said he thought Erasmus James' sack of Penn State's Michael Robinson Saturday was a "good clean hit."
