I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I think I'd really like Joe Tiller if he was my neighbor. He seems like a principled man who believes in some of the same things I do...The judicial system, hard work and trying to stay true to what made you who you are.
That said, I reached a breaking point with him as the head coach of my alma mater a few years back. His teams that were noteworthy because of their never-say-die attitude had become seemingly complacent and looked like they lacked the fire to compete. He had built a program and seemed to be allowing in to crumble around him.
I've watched this with people I care greatly about- As you get older, it's difficult not to simply become wary of the grind...you wear down, you get fed up and your drive diminishes. What made you great as a professional no longer seems as important as it once did. I think that might have happened with the coach that righted ship at Purdue.
Sadly, I lumped Morgan Burke into the complacency equation and began to believe that he was good with good enough simply because he didn't say differently in public. Turns out, I was wrong about Purdue's AD. Mr. Burke, whose father used to live near my parents as I grew up, was kind of a buddy of my Dad. That didn't help my opinion of him as an athletic director. I was wrong about him...This is my apology. Mr. Burke, I'm sorry. I am positive the Purdue family and the the greater Big Ten community is going to judge you very well as a time passes.
If you have any question about Mr. Burke's handling of Tiller as a coach, take a few moments and read this article.
Perhaps a statue of the noble Morgan Burke might one day stand along side The Boilermaker statue outside of Ross-Ade Stadium?
11 comments:
Good find.
I think that sums up things pretty honestly. Good and bad.
Never a mention of Tiller being excited or fired up about anything but a house in Wyoming and fly-fishing.
Maybe it's been that way for awhile, but it doesn't motivate me to plan a trip from Kansas back for a Purdue game (the alternative would be to check out the Colts' new digs).
I am grateful for what Tiller has done and I am excited about the possibilities new leadership brings.
Nice article. Explains a bit. I'm still reserving my judgement on Hope until he does something. I was down on Burke as well, but it is good to see he finally made a stand with Tiller.
Question for the staff: do you think Purdue is just a mid-level school that will never produce more than one Rose Bowl appearance every few decades, or is it just a matter of finding the right coach?
Paul, I have a very hard time adopting that idea that Purdue is stuck where it is simply because of its size/fanbase...Schools like Iowa and Wisconsin drastically changed their trajectories based on Frye and Alvarez' vision/drive...and they were similar to Purdue prior to both of their regimes. All that said, it would take a truly amazing individual to make it happen.
Chris, I agree completely with the fact that the article runs the spectrum, both positively and negatively...seems fair. But, to say Purdue football is second to IU's program is absurd...By record, by facilities...It simply isn't the case. One can make a case in basketball, but we're not talking about that here.
When they say third wheel, I think they are just talking generally.
When people think of Notre Dame, Indiana, and Purdue what do they think of first?
Probably Notre Dame football first. IU basketball second. Purdue anything third.
So do you think Hope is that individual?
Good article - I, too think it takes a pretty balanced view of the Tiller era. Perhaps a few years from now, if (God forbid) the program takes a turn for the worse, some of us will take a more realistic view of what Joe did at Purdue. I only caught the end of the Colleto era when I enrolled in West Lafayette, so I count myself among the "spoiled."
Two quick other points - I would quibble with Tiller being underpaid. The last time I looked at Tiller's salary against any other benchmarks, he seemed overpaid, if anything (relative to recent results). Also, I was mildly surprised to see the Ohio State game as his "toughest loss." Maybe it's just me, but the 2004 Wisconsin game was the most devastating loss I can remember.
Paul, I don't think anybody's educated enough on Hope to make that call yet...It's kind of like when Painter took the helm for the basketball team...we learned he was a good hire; We'll learn, one way or another about Hope as well.
bb, you were spoiled, but so are a lot of the youngish Boiler football fans out there. It's a darned good thing we've had the last few seasons to humble you guys (sarcasm). I'd tend to agree with you assessment of his salary and I didn't like Tiller's tone in that portion of the article...I'm with you.
In regard to Tiller's salary: the campus, particularly the more academic types, was in somewhat of an uproar last year after an Exponent article reported that a decent part of his salary came from a scientific grant.
I don't see what was wrong with Akers' vision of being the biggest and best, just his execution.
For crying out loud, Oklahoma has been a power for decades and it's in the middle of the prairie. How much different is that as a "destination" than Purdue. Or Nebraska for that matter.
Colletto, however, couldn't find a W if you painted it on the 50 yard line. A tie is as good as a win indeed...
Akers did a lot wrong:
-Didn't win with regularity.
-Allowed thugs and malcontents to stay around despite knowing their ways.
-Screwed with tradition and still didn't win.
That's a formula that will have everybody against you...he was run out with the quickness for good reason.
Colletto never figured out what he was and was seemingly perpetually disgruntled. Not good either.
Burtnett was a nice guy who probably wasn't a very good coach and got the job due to poor timing and the fact they had to fill the position hastily.
Young could flat-out coach, but rumors of wrong-doings forced him out.
Tiller can/could coach and motivate, but wore down and became tired of the dealing with the media, dealing with 19 year olds and not being on his schedule...But, he seemed to do a lot right. What's the point? The point is we've really seen two guys who could coach in 25 years. Further back, we've probably seen three good coaches in 40. That's a recipe for a program that simply doesn't have an identity and is notable for being un-noteworthy.
The right individual can win anywhere.
Hope looks like Tiller Jr. in that photo
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