Hello, Brian here, posting a quick update on behalf of our entire staff, as everyone's been working on this coaching-search stuff.
Here's where things stand, I suppose: Nothing is happening before this weekend, contrary to rumors. We've been told that on the Purdue end and on the common-sense end. There's no reason for Purdue to overshadow the Indiana game, distract the players and - depending on your perspective - disrespect the outgoing coaches like that.
As soon as the IU game ends, Purdue is on the clock to live up to its hope of having a coach named as soon as possible. We have been told not to expect anything Sunday - though things could change as they often do in these clusters - but maybe Monday at the earliest, and Purdue won't deny itself the ability to go into the next week if it has to. The most important thing is getting the right coach.
There are rumors going around - and please understand that rumor does not equal fact, but rumors matter in situations like this if you can figure out where they're coming from and why they're going around and vet the legitimacy of both - that players are telling people that Les Miles has the job and there are rumors going around that players have been informed a hire has been made, but won't be revealed until after the Indiana game.
The latter doesn't make much sense. Why Purdue would tease the current players that way and put their mind on something other than Indiana, we don't know. But you never know. Maybe they've been asking a lot of questions and Purdue felt the need to address.
There's a lot of stuff going around about Les Miles, too much to not take seriously. But we do know Purdue has privately put the brakes on things in terms of an announcement date, telling staff that no hire has been made and nothing will happen until next week at the earliest. If that's changed, then it's changed in the last few hours, which seems very unlikely.
Something to keep in mind: Les Miles has clearly been very aggressive in pursuing this job and putting things out in the media that portray him as particularly attractive for prospective openings, Purdue included. Never before have we seen "sourced" reports about offensive "epiphanies" for a 63-year-old unemployed coach or potential staff hires prior to a head coach's hiring. (Unrelated: Industry sources would be surprised, to put it mildly, if Steve Sarkisian joined Miles at Purdue should Miles be hired.)
After his firing from LSU, Miles hired Jimmy Sexton as his agent to try to get the best job he can get. Did Les Miles hire that guy to get him the Purdue job specifically? Not likely.
Point is: There's a lot of information out there about Miles and that's almost certainly by design. That's how rumors start and that's how leverage is attained. And when rumors start, you know how it goes. One needs to look no further than Painter-to-Missouri or Tressel-to-Purdue for a lesson in a rumor mutating into something much bigger.
Miles makes sense, but also doesn't make sense.
Purdue has told candidates it wants sustained head coaching success - proof that a coach has turned over recruiting classes in his program and kept having success - and someone who can lay out a specific plan for how he's going to get quality recruits to Purdue. Miles checks off in those boxes, though recruiting at Purdue and recruiting at LSU are two very different things and Miles has been removed from Midwest recruiting for some time now.
Purdue wants to excite its fan base and sell tickets, and hiring a national championship coach could have that effect, at least in the short term. At some point, Purdue has to win to maintain it.
Where Miles doesn't make as much sense just lies in the fact he's 63 years old and his reputation is for archaic offense, though he has reportedly had an "epiphany" about opening up his offense.
For more on Les Miles (in audio form), listen to our podcast
But we know Purdue has talked with Miles, on multiple occasions, and we do think it's legitimate that he was on campus at some point.
Aside from Miles, Purdue's list of known candidates includes Skip Holtz, Greg Olson, Brock Spack and Rich Bisaccia.
There are certainly more, but that's who we've confirmed have fielded interest from Purdue. Early in the process, agents were talking about Craig Bohl as a candidate at Purdue, if not a frontrunner, but we - and I'm only speaking for GoldandBlack.com here - never confirmed contact with him. Doesn't mean Purdue hasn't contacted him, just that we never confirmed.
Regarding P.J. Fleck, he is playing out his season before engaging in any of this stuff, so no idea if he ever factors into this if Purdue is going to move as quick as it aspires to. We do have at least one source that believes he's not interested, but that would come before Purdue has even had a chance to make a case to him.
We still wouldn't write off guys like Jeff Brohm or Philip Montgomery, but we have no evidence either are involved here.
We do know candidates have been impressed/surprised by the money Purdue is talking about, the presumption on at least one source's part being that it's been lined up for a Les Miles sort of name.
Could be, but could also not be. There could be somebody out there that sneaks up. We've mentioned Dan Mullen more as a theory than an actual candidate but maybe there's somebody out there like him that'll reveal himself at the 11th hour, whenever that hour may be.
Long story short: We're taking the Les Miles stuff very seriously, but are far from calling the election just because everyone's talking about it.
As for a timeframe, if something happens before this weekend, that would go against what we're being told and defy the logic that says Purdue should play out the IU game before making any sort of announcement.
Our guess is Monday at the earliest.
Here's where things stand, I suppose: Nothing is happening before this weekend, contrary to rumors. We've been told that on the Purdue end and on the common-sense end. There's no reason for Purdue to overshadow the Indiana game, distract the players and - depending on your perspective - disrespect the outgoing coaches like that.
As soon as the IU game ends, Purdue is on the clock to live up to its hope of having a coach named as soon as possible. We have been told not to expect anything Sunday - though things could change as they often do in these clusters - but maybe Monday at the earliest, and Purdue won't deny itself the ability to go into the next week if it has to. The most important thing is getting the right coach.
There are rumors going around - and please understand that rumor does not equal fact, but rumors matter in situations like this if you can figure out where they're coming from and why they're going around and vet the legitimacy of both - that players are telling people that Les Miles has the job and there are rumors going around that players have been informed a hire has been made, but won't be revealed until after the Indiana game.
The latter doesn't make much sense. Why Purdue would tease the current players that way and put their mind on something other than Indiana, we don't know. But you never know. Maybe they've been asking a lot of questions and Purdue felt the need to address.
There's a lot of stuff going around about Les Miles, too much to not take seriously. But we do know Purdue has privately put the brakes on things in terms of an announcement date, telling staff that no hire has been made and nothing will happen until next week at the earliest. If that's changed, then it's changed in the last few hours, which seems very unlikely.
Something to keep in mind: Les Miles has clearly been very aggressive in pursuing this job and putting things out in the media that portray him as particularly attractive for prospective openings, Purdue included. Never before have we seen "sourced" reports about offensive "epiphanies" for a 63-year-old unemployed coach or potential staff hires prior to a head coach's hiring. (Unrelated: Industry sources would be surprised, to put it mildly, if Steve Sarkisian joined Miles at Purdue should Miles be hired.)
After his firing from LSU, Miles hired Jimmy Sexton as his agent to try to get the best job he can get. Did Les Miles hire that guy to get him the Purdue job specifically? Not likely.
Point is: There's a lot of information out there about Miles and that's almost certainly by design. That's how rumors start and that's how leverage is attained. And when rumors start, you know how it goes. One needs to look no further than Painter-to-Missouri or Tressel-to-Purdue for a lesson in a rumor mutating into something much bigger.
Miles makes sense, but also doesn't make sense.
Purdue has told candidates it wants sustained head coaching success - proof that a coach has turned over recruiting classes in his program and kept having success - and someone who can lay out a specific plan for how he's going to get quality recruits to Purdue. Miles checks off in those boxes, though recruiting at Purdue and recruiting at LSU are two very different things and Miles has been removed from Midwest recruiting for some time now.
Purdue wants to excite its fan base and sell tickets, and hiring a national championship coach could have that effect, at least in the short term. At some point, Purdue has to win to maintain it.
Where Miles doesn't make as much sense just lies in the fact he's 63 years old and his reputation is for archaic offense, though he has reportedly had an "epiphany" about opening up his offense.
For more on Les Miles (in audio form), listen to our podcast
But we know Purdue has talked with Miles, on multiple occasions, and we do think it's legitimate that he was on campus at some point.
Aside from Miles, Purdue's list of known candidates includes Skip Holtz, Greg Olson, Brock Spack and Rich Bisaccia.
There are certainly more, but that's who we've confirmed have fielded interest from Purdue. Early in the process, agents were talking about Craig Bohl as a candidate at Purdue, if not a frontrunner, but we - and I'm only speaking for GoldandBlack.com here - never confirmed contact with him. Doesn't mean Purdue hasn't contacted him, just that we never confirmed.
Regarding P.J. Fleck, he is playing out his season before engaging in any of this stuff, so no idea if he ever factors into this if Purdue is going to move as quick as it aspires to. We do have at least one source that believes he's not interested, but that would come before Purdue has even had a chance to make a case to him.
We still wouldn't write off guys like Jeff Brohm or Philip Montgomery, but we have no evidence either are involved here.
We do know candidates have been impressed/surprised by the money Purdue is talking about, the presumption on at least one source's part being that it's been lined up for a Les Miles sort of name.
Could be, but could also not be. There could be somebody out there that sneaks up. We've mentioned Dan Mullen more as a theory than an actual candidate but maybe there's somebody out there like him that'll reveal himself at the 11th hour, whenever that hour may be.
Long story short: We're taking the Les Miles stuff very seriously, but are far from calling the election just because everyone's talking about it.
As for a timeframe, if something happens before this weekend, that would go against what we're being told and defy the logic that says Purdue should play out the IU game before making any sort of announcement.
Our guess is Monday at the earliest.
