Minnesota coach Tim Brewster and Indiana coach Bill Lynch talked at length Monday at the Big Ten football media day about new facilities that have been built for their football programs, and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said it won’t be that long before the Hawkeyes have new digs, too.

He said a new football practice facility is still in the planning stages at this point. He said he’s not sure yet if it will be where the almost 30-year-old “bubble’’ stands or if it will be built at a different location. He said it almost certainly won’t have an inflatable roof, however.

He said Iowa fans also will notice a different look on the new artificial turf at Kinnick Stadium. Although the university decided not to put the Hawkeye logo in the middle of the turf, he said the end zones have been painted to have “the look of a bowl game.’’

Whatever that means.

“People say that it’s important when you walk into a place to be able to know where you are,’’ Barta said. “I believe there won’t be any doubts about where you are now.’’

The announcement that Kirk Ferentz signed a new seven-year contract (through 2015) wasn’t necessarily big news. The agreement previously had been announced in April.

But there was a new little wrinkle in Monday’s announcement out of Iowa City: Ferentz will have the use of a private plane for up to 35 hours per year. As I understand it, this isn’t for Iowa football business. It’s not for recruiting trips. The news release from the university states that this is for “personal use.’’

So, does that mean Kirk can pile the wife and kids onto the plane whenever he wants and jet off somewhere on a family vacation? I guess that’s what it means. It appears to be an $85,000-a-year perk.

Gary Barta was quoted in the release as saying “This is one way to reduce some of the stress the position places on his personal and family life.’’

Seems to me, a $3 million salary might be enough to relieve some stress.

As many of us suspected, reports that running back Jewel Hampton was seriously injured were greatly exaggerated.

Although Kirk Ferentz probably won’t speak publicly about anything pertaining to his program until the Golden Harvest event on July 25 or possibly the Big Ten preseason media day two days later, word has gotten out through credible sources that Hampton is fine.

He did hurt his knee in off-season workouts a few weeks ago and he did undergo an MRI, but he won’t need surgery. He may not be 100 percent by the start of fall practice but reports are that he will be fine by the Sept. 5 season opener with Northern Iowa.

None of it is coming from credible sources, but it appears Iowa running back Jewel Hampton may have suffered some sort of knee injury during off-season workouts Friday.

The rumor is all over various message boards already, that Hampton has a torn ACL, that he’s out for the year, that the Hawkeyes are in trouble.

First of all, I doubt if anyone — including Hampton himself and the Iowa coaches — know yet the severity of the injury (if there is an injury). The process generally is to wait a few days with such injuries, then do an MRI to assess the damage. That may be happening as we speak.

Knee injuries are no longer automatic season-enders and even if Hampton is sidelined for an ex-tended period of time, it’s not the end of Iowa’s season. Hampton may have had a tough fight on his hands this fall staying ahead of Florida product Jeff Brinson, who arrived with Hampton last fall and was redshirted for the 2008 season.

Brinson looked very comparable to Hampton during the spring scrimmage. Hampton only car-ried the ball once or twice because of a hamstring injury that had been plaguing him all spring. There were a few times later in the workout when I thought I saw Hampton. Then when the pile unstacked and I saw the number on the jersey, I realized it was Brinson. That’s a good sign. The two looked almost interchangeable.

Hampton rushed for 424 yards last fall as Shonn Greene’s understudy and has a big advantage over Brinson in game experience. But I’m not sure there’s much difference in their abilities.

Of course, an injury to Hampton would hurt depth-wise at the running back position. It remains to be seen if veteran reserve Paki O’Meara can do much against quality opposition. Also in the picture are redshirt freshman Adam Robinson, a Des Moines Lincoln grad who looked decent in the spring, and special teams maven Jayme Murphy.

What this might mean is an earlier look at incoming freshmen Brandon Wegher and Brad Rogers. Wegher is the much more heralded of the two recruits, but the 5-foot-10, 230-pound Rogers is a big back in the Shonn Greene mold. He could be one of the sleepers of this recruiting class.