A Typical Day For The Purdue Football Coaching Staff

[Joe Tiller enters room where assistants are already waiting and sits down.]


Tiller: Hello, men. Sorry I'm late. I was just talking to a satellite plate installer out in Wyoming. Can you believe what they can get on those plates now?

Danny Hope: Coach, I think you mean satellite “dish,” not “plate.”

Tiller: Fourteen kinds of porn! It's amazing.

Danny Hope: Um, well, coach, shouldn't we talk about the team?

Tiller: Oh, Danny, when you're head man you can do whatever the hell you want. But you're not. You're my underling for five more games. Plus the bowl.

[silence, Hope grits teeth]

Tiller: I'll tell you what. I think we should talk about the team. Here we are, 2-5. And I'll tell you what I want -- I want two trick plays for this weekend and I want them decided on in the next ten minutes.

Hope: Oh, I see, cool. You're giving the staff a time limit so that they bear down and focus. Good tactic.

Tiller: What about Tic Tacs? No, I have a frozen pizza in the oven and it only has twelve minutes left on it. And then I'm taking a nap and watching Captain Kangaroo.

Hope: I see.

Tiller: Brock! What do you have for me?

Spack:

Tiller: Same as usual, eh Brock?

Hope: Do you think Curtis could handle a flea flicker?

Tiller: A what?

Hope: [calls Curtis Painter up, tells him to come to coaches room]

Painter: What's up, coach?

Hope: Can you throw a flea flicker?

Painter: hmmmmm.....

......no, coach, I don’t throw fleas. I don’t even think that’s possible. I throw footballs.

Hope: [sighs] A flea flicker is where you hand off to Kory and then he tosses it back to you…

Painter: Oh.

Hope: …and you then look downfield and go through your progression, pick out the receiver, and let fly.

Painter: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. What’s a progression?


Tiller: That’s mah boy!

Hope: Curtis, it’s when you look at each receiver in the order of whom you’d like to throw to and decide on the best option.

Painter: Oh, right! I always just settle on the first guy. I’m that freaking good. I just laser it in there no matter what.

Hope: Yes, we know.

Painter: Watch me thrown a dead-accurate pass!

Hope: Hold on, let’s go to the aquatics center – I want to try something.

[at aquatics center]

Hope: Okay, Curtis, your target is there:

Curtis: [lets fly]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[ball sails over pool]

Hope: [sigh]

[back to coaches room]

Hope: Curtis, you need to work on your game.

Tiller: It’ll come around.

Hope: No, coach, it won’t. It’s more than halfway through his senior season – when do we begin to coach him?

Tiller: Do what now? I sure do like fly fishing. Curtis, you need to promise me you'll come visit in Wyoming and go fly fishing with me.

Painter: Of course, Coach. [looking at Hope] Look, I don’t need to be coached. I’m a Heisman candidate AND and a bowl-game MVP!

Hope: Argh. The bloggers you're afraid of are right, Joe. We have to do something about this team’s mindset and the culture we’re letting develop here.

Tiller: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mutiny!!!

It's actually NOT how you finish...

Chris Summers, Brandon Whittington, Curtis Painter, Dorien Bryant, Kyle Orton, Ben Jones, Berin Lacevic, Montrell Lowe, Kyle Smith, Brandon Kirsch, Brandon Hance, Kelly Butler, Travis Dorsch, Antwaun Rogers and even Drew Brees.
What do all of these players have in common?
First, they're all Purdue football players who were pretty solid, at least in most cases, during their careers. Furthermore, about half of them were stars in the black and gold. Another, more painful commonality is they all made costly mistakes late in a close game, during the Tiller era, that could have cemented a victory...and our Boilers lost a heartbreaker shortly after. I think it's important for individuals to take responsibility for their actions...in life as well as in sport. But, it's hard to lay blame when the same things happen repetitively with a wide array of players on all sides of the ball in a number of painful, sour-tasting, putrid-smelling ways.
I used to think it was Jim Chaney's fault when Purdue got conservative on offense when our Boilers were in the lead...Then, Coach Legg showed some really predicable tendencies...yesterday, we saw Coach Z painting a very familiar offensive picture during the second and third quarters- Three and out; draw left, option right, dropped pass. As the coaching gets tighter, the players get tighter, the fans get tighter, the energy in the stadium drastically changes...and before you know it, a lead has shrunk, then disappeared and finally has been replaced with a narrow margin that ends in defeat of my alma mater's football team.

I compared yesterday's game v. Oregon to a job interview in which you really aren't qualified...Like Purdue yesterday, there's nothing to lose...much to gain. And our Boilers played just that way...for about 18 minutes...then things changed. According to a radio program I was listening to while driving south on 65, the Purdue offense had 9 offensive possessions in a row in which they moved the ball 30-or-less yards...I would estimate many of those drives were 15 yards or-less and at least four of them were 3-and-outs.

I honestly don't give a damn who tells me different...This is a systematic, philisophical, and even psychological problem that will be cured, one way or another at the end of this season. And while I didn't want it to end this way, an old wound was torn open yesterday and a salenic-lemon tonic was shot into the contusion that reminded me of way too many games I've watched during the last 11 years.

Not such an easy transition?

We've heard Morgan Burke, Joe Tiller and the media all tell us that the Tiller-Hope transition is a model of how a coach should go out and other should come in. But, recruits might not agree with that assessment.

As of today, here's how the Big Ten football verbal commitments look:
Illinois
2 verbals (2x****)

Indiana
0 verbals

Iowa
2 verbals (***, ****)

UM
9 verbals (*****, 5 x ****, 2 x ***)

MSU
7 verbals (6 x ****, ***)

Minnesota
5 verbals (****, 4 x ***)

Northwestern
2 verbals (2 x ***)

aOSU
17 verbals (*****, 12 x ****, 4 x ***)

PSU
12 verbals (3 x ****, 7 x ***)

Purdue
0 verbals

Wisconsin
5 verbals (2 x ****, 3 x ***)

So, Purdue is on the same footing as IU (whoopty-doo)...everybody else in the league, from Northwestern to aOSU (of course) have all convinced at least a couple kids from the class of '09 to lean their way. Granted, we're eight months from signing day...a lot can happen and 18 year olds are a fickle bunch. But, this isn't the best possible start to the Hope era...This surely isn't a running start for Hope and Co, it might not even be a walking start.

I'm not taking anything away from Hope- he's targeting quite a few high-level recruits, but we're not really leading in any of these kids minds.

Unless the upcoming season is a rousing success, Hope's first recruiting class might be less-than-stellar. Furthermore, with the loss of a four-year starter at QB, a three-year starting WR, two very experienced RBs, both three year starter defensive linemen and an established MLB, Hope's odds of initial success look long. And, this coaching transition might be much bumpier than some have told us it will be.

Let's Hope For The Best!

And, let's hope for as few dumb headlines like this as possible...Let the dumb puns roll.

Multiple sources both on television and in print are reporting that Danny Hope will be named as Purdue's eventual head coach following the '08-'09 Purdue football season. The announcement, rumored to take place early Friday afternoon may or may not occur then, and might be move to Saturday or even next week...I'm guessing it'll still be Friday, but as of 1:30 am, ET, there's no official announcement from the Purdue Athletic Dept. about a presser.

So what else do we know?
According to two sources, Chryst turned Purdue down...not because he didn't want the job, but because he was bothered with the idea of multiple coaches being fired (one specific name is Ed Zaunbrecher) to create space for him on the staff. It's also reported that he didn't want to start his head coaching career without the full support of the fans of that school; something he didn't think he'd have since he wasn't a Tiller guy. It's also rumored that his personality didn't jive with Burke & Co...Who knows what's exactly true other than Burke, Chryst and Christ (that's the last name joke about him).

As of right now, the logistical details of the hire are foggy...I don't know who will stay, who's already looking to leave and who has been forced out in the coaching staff. It seems there are typically a few changes each off-season...We'll see what unfolds; and I'll do my best to stay up late and report what I hear because I care so damned much about you the reader.

I don't see this coaching transition affecting this year's recruiting class negatively. Purdue's '08 class will probably be in the 50's nationally, as it has for the past few seasons. There are 2-4 players out of the 25-member class that were sought after by perennial powerhouses. One of those is already registered at Purdue as a mid-year enrollee (Ken Plue). Another tore his ACL in his final high school game and has had all other competition back away from him while Purdue stood firm in their interest in the speed merchant from Georgia (Ralph Bolden). Could we see a late addition? I don't think so simply because Hope hasn't been recruiting D-I players...but you never know.

I've mentioned that I'm not completely on board on this hire, but I'm not down on it either...once Hope's coaching staff is set for the '09-'10 season, I think the Purdue family will be able to make an educated guess on what the future might hold for the next football coaching regime. We shall see.

Boiler Up!

Friday Porn Stache Announcement (football)?...and Baby Boiler Update

It sounds like we will definitely know what's happening with the Purdue football coaching situation in the very near future (about 51 hours from now). The buzz on the interwebnet is that there will be a succession plan and it may involve a name that has some Purdue/Tiller ties.

(This photo is not of Ron Zook in a bad disugise...it's EKU's coach, Danny Hope)

Hope is currently the head coach at Eastern Kentucky. In his four seasons, his teams have had four winning campaigns, and has a total record of 35-21 (62%). Hope has no NFL experience, contrasting with most of Burke's candidates for this Purdue's coaching vacancy. He graduated from EKU, coached briefly for Manatee High School in Bradenton, FL, coached on two occasions at Louisville, then a season at Oklahoma and finally connected with Joe Tiller at Wyoming. He followed Tiller to God's country and coached the Boilers offensive line from 1997 through 1999...5 of his pupils at Purdue went on to play in the NFL. Unlike Chryst, the other frontrunner for this job, Hope is an energetic people person, according to many accounts.

Here are my thoughts on this possiblity:
-He looks like Ron Zook with a mustache
-It will be easy for Purdue fans to transition from Tiller's 'stache to Hope's 'stache
-I kept waiting to hear about more candidates with a Purdue connection...this one has it; I think he'll be the guy.
-This probably makes Tiller pleased since he comes from the Tiller coaching bloodline...I don't think that makes me happy; but it probably pleases a lot of old people who give money to the program. I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach on Hope.
-I don't think Tiller was ever as upset with the idea of a succession plan as originally reported by Boiler Station...but I do think he wanted to have one of "his guys" involved in the mix. Looks like he got his wish.
-There is no formula for successful coaching hires, but it seems to me that Burke wants someone that he doesn't think will use Purdue as a stepping stone and will win without raising flags to the NCAA with questionable practices...Burke seems to have been very particular on the ages of the candidates as well; they're all young-ish.

We'll be on top of it when the announcement's made Friday.

Baby Boiler Update
A short-handed Purdue team traveled north to East Lansing and allowed the Spartans to grow a colossal lead before clawing back into the game. Chris Kramer led the team in scoring with 19 points, and shot the ball well (7-of-9). Calasan and Green both added key buckets and stops at important times. But Martin didn't play well, Hummel didn't play due to illness & Crump played limited minutes due to his ankle.

It was a good effort, but the NCAA committee might have penciled a note to themselves if the Boilers would have come away with the unlikely win in the Breslin Center. Hopefully, these young guys are learning a lot this season (which I think they are)...because it's painfully obvious, at this point that they're just not that good, yet. I do think that Tuesday's game was a step in the right direction, but the slow start is something that simply must be eradicated by Painter and his staff...that and the propensity for these Boilers to lose leads in the final minutes of close games.

Tom Izzo thinks Kramer has the heart of lion...too bad he's got the knees of a 60 year-old human. Sadly, Kramer has not played healthy since his arrival on Purdue's campus. Next up, Ohio State comes to W. Lafayette on Saturday.

Purdue's Next Football Coach?

It's no longer a rumor, this story has legs. The wheels are in motion for Joe Tiller to be replaced by this man:
Paul Chryst.

The story broke at 11:30 am Saturday after a ton of speculation that the coaching situation at Purdue would be addressed before LOI day in early February.

Burke denied that Chryst would be part of a succession plan that involved he and Tiller later Saturday afternoon. That tells me that Tiller may have already chosen not to return and will not break Fat Jack's record as the winningest coach in Purdue history.

Here's what I think: First, bravo, Morgan Burke, for a couple reasons. It looks like Spack is not going to be the guy...he did not earn the right to be the guy since his defenses simply haven't performed in the last four seasons. Second, he obviously cast a wide net and didn't limit the interviewing process to within the Purdue family...intern, he's looking for the best fit, not just the most convenient fit for the job!

Great job, Mr. Burke! More to come soon (I expect an announcement in the next week, if not in the next two days).

Addendum: This story has been confirmed by another source.