Purdue Hires New WR Coach

The Boilers have hired a new WR coach to replace the departed Coach Rock. Patrick Higgins comes to the Boilermakers from BYU, where he had coached since 2005.

Higgins will be the new WR coach and will also "work alongside Boilers special-teams coordinator J.B. Gibboney" as well as help with the kicking game, as per ESPN. Higgins was a special teams coordinator (as well as receivers coach) at BYU so perhaps this is a strategic hire to ensure that if and when Gibboney's time is done at Purdue, they have someone set to step in to replace him.

Or perhaps it's partly meant to light a fire under Gibboney so that he feels the urgency and coaches for his job. Or perhaps I'm just making things up.

It's hard to say yet what kind of hire this is, but the good thing is that Higgins has over two decades of coaching experience. However, he's also another old friend of Danny Hope's. We've lamented a few times how overly loyal Coach Hope seems to be to his coaches, arguably to a fault. This could simply be more of the same. Of course, if Keith Smith comes back completely healthy, this could look genius.

Just over seven months to kickoff.

Say Hello to Purdue's new DC

Not sure if I feel real good about this hire...I really thought they could get a guy with BSD coaching experience*. Kind of how I feel with Hope- I'm going to wait and see until I judge. That said, my gut feeling about an older coach with not-the-best resume isn't a good one.

Donn Landholm

I thought for sure that Hagen would get a look for this job...since he wasn't hired, I think he might be the next Boiler coach to hit the road...Please note, I have no reason other than opinion to say this. Also note that I don't know if Hagen was the right guy for the job or not, either.

To me, this is a bit of the continuation of a blah day for Purdue football.

In other news you probably already know, Purdue hired Cornell Jackson as the running backs coach. I like this hire a bit better as he's coached BSD schools and is an African American which surely won't hurt recruiting...That said, he's been a defensive coach for most of his career. Once again; wait and see, I guess.



*other than GA or volunteer experience