Come ON, dude. How was Painter doing at first when he started at Purdue? Also, not trolling, but the academic elitism I sometimes see here toward the University of Illinois of all places seems ... strange. I am not sure what list you guys are looking at, but I have actually never once seen Purdue ranked above Illinois on an overall academic ranking, and I'd wager that Illinois has a better academic reputation to anyone outside of your turf in Indiana... that's not a knock on Purdue, but you really think some kid is going on a visit to U of I and PU and coming away thinking U of I just can't compare to PU academically? That's not living in reality.
I have always liked Purdue and respected the history of the program/the usual politeness and grounded attitude of the fans ... but Illinois has just as much history and things going for it as Purdue. Purdue is currently a more impressive program, but recruits commit to "down" programs all the time, and it wasn't so long ago that you guys were in our shoes trying to sell young men on the idea of bringing Purdue back.