A Little Reality

[vilehoopster]

Or, at least, reality as I see it.....

First off, everyone bashing Burke about the hiring of Hazell sure has a short memory. After he managed to win 11 games in just his second season at Kent State, I along with a large majority of this board thought that he would be an excellent choice. And when Burke went and put up the money necessary to hire him, I remember the vast majority being very happy with Burke. I don't think any of us, Burke or the people on this board who seem to have forgotten how happy they were at the time, ever for a second saw the disaster that would follow. And yes, it is a total disaster. I look at what we have and I can't possibly figure out how Kent State won 11 games with this guy as a coach; that 11 win season seems totally inexplicable. But my point is still that from the evidence available at the time of hire, Hazell seemed like a great choice for Burke and Purdue, and this board seems to forget that most people thought it was a great move.

Second, I don't think you can blame Appleby. This coaching staff destroys quarterbacks, destroys them. It's three for three. Before his hand injury, I remember Rob Henry being a very adequate and competent quarterback. He was good to very good in that win at Northwestern; then he injured his hand. But the Rob H. that this staff got was a healed Rob, but from the start, he was terrible. He couldn't read defenses and his passing was terrible. Etling was a highly ranked quarterback; we were damned happy to get him. And early on he looked, downright good and very promising. Yet, at the end of his first season and the start of his second season, he was terrible. What happened there? And now we see it with Appleby; remember the Illinois game last year. He was good, completely different than what he is now. What happens here? It, like the topic above, makes no sense to me, none.

Third, this season is a mess so far, but we have one goal for this season: GET THE DAMN BUCKET BACK !! We have to keep backing, to a degree, this staff and hope that the team will improve and fight and get better. IU is terrible, regardless of their record, and the game is here! Let's worry about the staff after the season. After Hope was fired the team didn't even fake an effort in the lose to Oklahoma State. I was in the stands when Colletto was already announced fired and Tiller was at the game watching his new team for next year. Purdue totally laid and egg with no effort for Coletto. I absolutely blame the administration for that lost game; Coletto had no chance to get any effort from his players. So, keep it together for now and let's get that Bucket back and quit calling for firing Hazell during the season. Let's not screw any chance we have of getting the Bucket back, and I think our chances are pretty good to get the Bucket.

 

[banshee90]

While I agree that at the time I thought Hazel was a good get and I was happy we didn't offer bargain bin prices. I still think Burke cheaped out on our Assistant coaches. Yeah we increased the pay from the Hope era, but we are still bottom of the B1G pay wise. OSU pays their QB coach more than we pay our OC (for some perspective).

We also see that Burke has had 2 hirings that didn't pan out in a decade. He is reaching retirement age and it will be hard to get a new HC when the AD is basically a lame duck. So where we see ourselves keep hazel till the end of his contract or fire him and have burke "retire" so we can move on to the next era with fresh faces. If we do the later Burke needs to retire soon so we can get a new AD and start a coaching search before the end of November.

 

[AZboiler]

While I agree that at the time I thought Hazel was a good get and I was happy we didn't offer bargain bin prices. I still think Burke cheaped out on our Assistant coaches. Yeah we increased the pay from the Hope era, but we are still bottom of the B1G pay wise. OSU pays their QB coach more than we pay our OC (for some perspective).

We also see that Burke has had 2 hirings that didn't pan out in a decade. He is reaching retirement age and it will be hard to get a new HC when the AD is basically a lame duck. So where we see ourselves keep hazel till the end of his contract or fire him and have burke "retire" so we can move on to the next era with fresh faces. If we do the later Burke needs to retire soon so we can get a new AD and start a coaching search before the end of November.

Unless the Direction of this program changes dramatically. Unless the Fan base is much more patient that those on this board. There will be very little if anything left of Purdue Football.

 

[ghostoffatjack]

1) I was worried about him when he didn't leave Kent State immediately on his hiring and stated so many times on this board! 2) He was a reach panic hire that Purdue overpaid for when Purdue couldn't close the deal on other more qualified Head Coaches. 3) Most importantly when he didn't fire his OC immediately after last season I knew we (he) was done!

 

[banshee90]

Unless the Direction of this program changes dramatically. Unless the Fan base is much more patient that those on this board. There will be very little if anything left of Purdue Football.

Anecdotal evidence but the purdue bar in Houston was pretty thin last week. It had maybe 5-10 recent grads and a bunch of elderly with a few people in between.

 

[bocaboiler]

Over the past 25 years when Purdue has beaten OSU, Michigan, Notre Dame etc... have they done it with better talent? I say no. So how did they win? By going with the Purdue brand: spread offenses, slinging the ball around, with an average running game to keep the D honest, and special teams good enough that they don't hurt you. Basically knowing the other team's strengths and playing counter to that, to find mismatches to exploit.

On defense the Purdue brand is Den of DE's, putting consistent pressure on the QB and disrupting the backfield. Not giving a chance to develop a rhythm, with a bend no break philosophy. You give up some points but have an offense that can score more.

So in comes the current DH and wants to go with the OSU brand. I'm sorry but when that philosophy was made apparent, I did NOT think he was an excellent choice. And when he named Shoop the OC, it just seemed like an April Fool's joke. Really, a bad NFL OC is going to become a good college OC. How does that work?

I have no problem with DH the man, he seems like a great person. He just is not a good fit here. Is our AD to blame? Hell yes. Terrible selection skills, terrible. Do I want him hiring the next head coach? Hell no. So here's the dilemma, you gotta get a coach that is a good match with the Purdue brand, but the current AD is a total dumb ass in recognizing that.

DH cannot be here another year, the snowball has already started rolling downhill and there's no stopping it. Current AD can NOT make this hire. It needs to be well thought out, with the focus on getting a guy that jives with the Purdue brand. It will take 3-4 years to turn this around, but in the meantime at least there would be a chance to see some exciting football.