Wish everyone and their families on the board a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Redacted from The Athletic:

Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall has had a terrific debut season at Tulane, and the Green Wave are 9-2 with legit Playoff hopes. He went 23-4 in two seasons revitalizing the program at Troy. The 42-year-old is the hottest name in the Group of 5 ranks and is well-regarded in coaching circles for his ability to connect with people and feel for the game.

Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell has won big everywhere he’s been and runs an innovative, fun offense. At Coastal Carolina, he went 31-6 in his last three years before leaving for a bigger payday at Liberty. He led the Flames to the Fiesta Bowl in his first season and is 21-3 entering the regular-season finale of Year 2.

UNLV head coach Barry Odom has completely turned around the Rebels in less than two years. He’s 18-7 at a place that hadn’t won more than eight games in a season in 40 years.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, still only 44, has gotten the Cyclones into Playoff consideration with a 9-2 record in his ninth season. Campbell has posted seven winning seasons in Ames, including a No. 9 finish in 2020

Marshall head coach Charles Huff was a respected assistant at Penn State, Alabama and Mississippi State before taking over the Thundering Herd. The 41-year-old from Maryland is 30-20 in four seasons and has Marshall 6-1 in the Sun Belt.

Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield is in his fifth season leading the Tigers and has continued to elevate the program, going 19-5 the past two seasons. The 44-year-old Silverfield has coached at all levels, including stints in the NFL with the Vikings and Lions.

James Madison head coach Bob Chesney has gradually risen up the coaching ranks, from Assumption College to Holy Cross and now to the Dukes, who are 8-3 despite losing 13 players to Indiana when the Hoosiers hired away Curt Cignetti. James Madison blew out the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, putting 70 up on UNC. The 47-year-old Chesney looks like he has a P4 job in his future, but it might not be this soon.

I know he’s just a freshman.

But I keep reading his minutes are limited because he is not in playing shape and he just gets exhausted too quickly.

Was he injured during his senior year or during the summer? And he’s recuperating?

Or as a senior in high school did he just walk down the court and his team waited for him to get in place?

I’ve never heard of a healthy player Other than Tractor Traylor who was not in playing shape and could only play for short bursts at a time.

I recall Swanigan and Tre who were recovering from injuries and weight conditioning issues that started their Purdue careers on a limited minutes basis until they met their weight standards and got in playing shape. I fully expect Jacobson will be on a limited minute schedule next year when he returns to play.

So what’s the story on Burgess and his conditioning issues and limited playing time?

I'm curious if the Boilers offensive problems were less with Graham H., but more with the chemistry between the HC and OC.

Or, if asked differently, would GH be more successful here under Odom?

I’m assuming we will go hard to lock up Gorin, but we NEED more OL recruits. That is the most important position to develop and Odom has said it is a point of emphasis. Ideally we would have 4-5 a year. I guess we do have 5-6 from last years class still but I’d like to see us add a few more to go with Gorin. I don’t see any 2025 OL on UNLV, but there are a handful of other candidates I can see still out there:

Ozzy Pollard, Carmel. Offer from IU and a bunch of MAC

Avery Huggins, Westfield. MAC offers.

Max Parciak, Nappanee. Commited to ball state but didn’t sign

Karson Kinsinger, Lapel. Akron, In St offers

Chance Johnson, Jeffersonville. He has offers from Md and Ky, don’t know why he is rated so low.

Ibrahim Kebe, OH. Mac type offers.

Michael Smith, WI. Offer from Co St and Wazzou.

Anyone know of any others?

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Purdue falls in its Big Ten opener at Penn State.

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“Oh we can’t fire these civil servants!”

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At this point, I'm not even sure how may sure fire starters we have coming back next season.

That said, I think we're looking at 25+ transfers to add depth and I'd say 15-18 new starters.

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The only experience I have with a coaching change is the Brohm to Walters situation as the others occurred before my "wisdom" kicked in. What I recall during that transition it that there was much guessing on who and that it happened rather quickly. I read where the AD said money would be made available to bring in a coach and that they wanted to move quickly.

What is quickly in college sports? I depicted a possible timeline to help me process this (release date = T):

1. T-21 days, Purdue AD had knowledge of potential release and begins assembling a short list of candidates
2. T-10 days, Purdue AD has to have a gut feel and sharpens his potential candidates to a short list
3. T-1 day, Purdue AD confirms release with president and BoT to make the announcement
4. T, Walters released and search is officially underway, short list of candidates are contacted to gauge interest
5. T+3 days, Purdue AD should have 1-3 candidates defined as selection progresses
6. T+5 days, selection is finalized, details are worked out
7. T+8 days, new coach is announced

Does that timing feel about right to you?