Well, the day is here...a day that some Purdue fans thought would never come and others hoped the same way- Brock Spack is no longer employed by his alma mater.
He's moving on to "greener" pastures...Illinois State, to be exact. Something tells me he never had the intention of coming back since he took a job such as this. While I'm excited for the change, I wish him well as he's a Purdue guy. Good Luck, Brock.
I'd like to see Hagen get the promotion...but we should know who's the next DC in a matter of days (just a guess).
No Word Yet...
Despite the rather large number of football recruits in town last weekend, no new verbals have announced they'll be coming to play in the gold and black. Granted, many had a few more visits planned before giving word, but I was hoping we'd hear some buzz.
Unimpressed
Just like me, the coaches weren't impressed with Purdue's most recent week of games. They held tight at 13 in the AP, but dropped one spot to 18 in ESPN/USA Today poll. Sure, they played a pair of lackluster opponents, but they didn't play very well in either game (I know they played well defensively v. BSU; that's only half of the game).
Let's hope they peak in March regardless of what happens the next few months.
12 comments:
Congratulations to Brock. He's a good man and I wish him success at Illinois State.
WOOHOOO!!!! Finally.
Brock's departure is a big loss for the program. He put together some great defensive units, was a great recruiter, and no one was more excited to be at Purdue. Ignorant Purdue fans everywhere are thrilled.
He was indeed a great recruiter but I got sick of hearing about all the talent he brought in and then having ~5 games a year where the defense looked pitiful. And then, this was followed by the inevitable great defensive game - which should have been the norm, instead of a fluke. I can remember many defensive groups (either returning players or incoming players) that were touted as great units and then would have huge let downs. This was unacceptable and who cares whether he enjoyed being there or not, he wasn't getting the job done once he got the kids onto campus.
Matt - did you get hit in the head or something? Being excited to be at Purdue is not a mark of success. And if recruiting was the only thing that counted Notre Dame would have been national champs the last 14 years instead of 0-9 in bowl games.
I don't know what great defensive units he put together; in our best Tiller years we made it on great offense and OK defense. Great defenses would be the strength of the program and we didn't have any.
T-Mill at OTT notes there are 17 defensive Boilers in the NFL, not a bad record, and yet our defense has not played to the level indicated by that talent. That means the talent played below its ability and that is a coaching issue.
@rowboilers,
2002 and 2003? Were those not great units?
Maybe my standards are just higher than yours. I have not found national stats for 2002 yet but for 2003 our defense was good, maybe very good. But not great IMO. Although we ranked 9th in points per game nationally, we gave up 17/game and the avg points scored by our 13 opponents was 24/game. So pretty good but not great.
Our competition that year was not good offensively. The average rank for points per game of our opponents was 72th. We faced the 112th, 111th, 105th, 97th, 92th and 90th offenses by that stat.Bowling Green at 18th and Michigan at 8th and Wisconsin at 50th are the top 3 we faced.
Game by game we gave up about a touchdown less than their average. Great D would have shut down a good offense somewhere.
2002 we gave up 22/game and lost 6 games (all by 7 points or less). Not great for the average and a great defense would have found a way to win a game or in that string of close losses.
Those are his best years and 2003 was pretty good, but not great. 2002 is just meh.
I think the only thing that I didn't like about Spack was his inability to adjust to the opposition's halftime adjustments.
How many games did the Boilers shut down opposing offenses only to see leads evaporate in the second half. I'll answer that - all of them.
I'll be interested to see who steps up as the new DC. I wonder if Rod Woodson is really happy at the NFL Network...
@rowboilers,
In 2002, Purdue was 1st in the Big Ten in yards allowed per game. In 2003 I believe they were in the top 3 in that category. That is pretty damn good.
Matt, @rowboilers:
2002? 2003? That's five years ago. Weren't they still wearing leather helmets then?
@rowboilers,
"Spack's 2002 defense led the Big Ten, the first time Purdue had the conference No. 1 unit since 1967."
http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=889646
Just "meh?" You are clueless.
Matt
And yet they gave up more points in 2002 than 2003, by almost a touchdown. 2003 was a better defense in terms of scoring and I've already said that D was good or very good. But 2002 was a 7-6 record, 6 close losses so, no, I can't see 2002 even rising to very good. They were good.
Again, maybe it's our standards. I appreciate leading the Big Ten in yards allowed D, but the Big 10 is and has been a weak conference. And points is more important than yards allowed.
Those were Spack's 2 best years. If they were average years you could make a case that he is a good DC, but his average years are well below those levels and his worst years are awful.
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