Sadly for Purdue and the players who'll be remembered as the collateral damage in this agonizing failed-thus-far transition from one coaching staff to the next, there wouldn't have been a more fitting backdrop for the program's senior day ceremony.
It was gray and dreary, cold and while not rainy, not exactly dry, either.
Purdue's seniors - so many of them good soldiers and good people, like Robert Kugler and Danny Anthrop - walked out on the field in front of a Ross-Ade Stadium crowd so sparse, Indiana's band, nestled in a section of decent seating it had all to itself at that point, stood out like a nasty bloodstain on a white T-shirt.
Every year, we say this about seniors whose careers don't end well: They deserved better. It's awful myopic of us to say because the teams whose seasons do end well have good people on their teams too.
But be that as it may, a lot of these guys did deserve better.
Instead they walk out the door winner of six games in three years, having just played for a team that got worse when it needed, needed, needed to get better. The fact Purdue won one fewer game than it did last season and exits this season with quarterback every bit as unsettled as it was last year, or the year before, or the year before that, puts this thing in worst-case scenario waters.
Darrell Hazell isn't going anywhere right now for a variety of reasons, two of which being Purdue can't afford to buy him out, in part because of all the money football is costing the athletic department and because the leadership of said department is in line for a transition. When, we don't know for certain, but Morgan Burke's contract expires in 2017, suggesting strongly that he will not be the man who hires Purdue's next football coach.
A.D.-less Illinois showed us today with the half-hearted two-year Band-Aid it slapped on its coaching situation that everything trickles down from the top, so there are other dominoes that have to fall before Purdue hires another football coach.
That does not mean there won't be changes to the coaching staff. There will be and should be. The "all-star" staff promised on the day that Hazell was hired hasn't worked. Some will be put on waivers soon, we figure. Those with some promise to them who've done good work in their time in West Lafayette may be inclined to run for cover to protect their career arc. Prospective hires will have to be made with the lame-duck scenario an unavoidable consideration.
This season ended fittingly too in that the backup quarterback came in and played well enough to cast a whole bunch of doubts about that bold and quick quarterback change that was made many months ago. Understanding that I wrote after Austin Appleby struggled against Virginia Tech that it should be an open competition, that hook on Appleby did seem quick. Against Indiana for most of the afternoon, he looked like a quarterback Purdue could have won more than one game with over the final 10 games of the season. Maybe not, I don't know, but Purdue proactively went younger at a position where experience has been a commodity it can't get a grasp on.
Why Purdue hasn't been able to decide on a quarterback and develop that player into a winning, consistent player, I have no idea. But it doesn't reflect well on the staff, neither the head coach nor the coordinator. Purdue has no offensive identity whatsoever three years into this thing now.
Defensively, it is hard to be good on defense at Purdue. Look at the history of this program and Indiana's both. Not a coincidence that those ledgers are littered with turnstile defenses.
But Purdue should be able to tackle and get stops on third-and-a-dozen at this point.
It's not too much to ask.
Someone's going to take the fall for it here in the short term. There's no good reason whatsoever for it to not be Sunday, unless Purdue wants to toy with recruits by letting two big visit weekends come and go first. That would seem disingenuous and counterproductive to recruiting, but I don't know how this is going to get handled.
We do know Darrell Hazell isn't going anywhere. We know your opinion. Don't take it out on me.
Can this change overnight? I don't know what real progress has been achieved from the mess Hazell took over. I don't know how much of what progress Purdue says it's seeing is simple confirmation bias or just something you have to say when you have to say something.
But as far as progress, goes the product on the field is reflecting very little, if any.
We're still seeing a stunted offense, a porous defense and a roster so undisciplined it finished off the season today with a cool half dozen personal fouls.
Hazell, by every account is a good man and has represented Purdue well as such, and that is worth noting, but it has won the Boilermakers not a single game, nor will it.
It is absolutely Purdue's right to keep its coach following the bottoming out of the past three seasons.
But if that move is going to be made on the basis of progress, the eyeball test is telling an entirely different story.
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Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
It was gray and dreary, cold and while not rainy, not exactly dry, either.
Purdue's seniors - so many of them good soldiers and good people, like Robert Kugler and Danny Anthrop - walked out on the field in front of a Ross-Ade Stadium crowd so sparse, Indiana's band, nestled in a section of decent seating it had all to itself at that point, stood out like a nasty bloodstain on a white T-shirt.
Every year, we say this about seniors whose careers don't end well: They deserved better. It's awful myopic of us to say because the teams whose seasons do end well have good people on their teams too.
But be that as it may, a lot of these guys did deserve better.
Instead they walk out the door winner of six games in three years, having just played for a team that got worse when it needed, needed, needed to get better. The fact Purdue won one fewer game than it did last season and exits this season with quarterback every bit as unsettled as it was last year, or the year before, or the year before that, puts this thing in worst-case scenario waters.
Darrell Hazell isn't going anywhere right now for a variety of reasons, two of which being Purdue can't afford to buy him out, in part because of all the money football is costing the athletic department and because the leadership of said department is in line for a transition. When, we don't know for certain, but Morgan Burke's contract expires in 2017, suggesting strongly that he will not be the man who hires Purdue's next football coach.
A.D.-less Illinois showed us today with the half-hearted two-year Band-Aid it slapped on its coaching situation that everything trickles down from the top, so there are other dominoes that have to fall before Purdue hires another football coach.
That does not mean there won't be changes to the coaching staff. There will be and should be. The "all-star" staff promised on the day that Hazell was hired hasn't worked. Some will be put on waivers soon, we figure. Those with some promise to them who've done good work in their time in West Lafayette may be inclined to run for cover to protect their career arc. Prospective hires will have to be made with the lame-duck scenario an unavoidable consideration.
This season ended fittingly too in that the backup quarterback came in and played well enough to cast a whole bunch of doubts about that bold and quick quarterback change that was made many months ago. Understanding that I wrote after Austin Appleby struggled against Virginia Tech that it should be an open competition, that hook on Appleby did seem quick. Against Indiana for most of the afternoon, he looked like a quarterback Purdue could have won more than one game with over the final 10 games of the season. Maybe not, I don't know, but Purdue proactively went younger at a position where experience has been a commodity it can't get a grasp on.
Why Purdue hasn't been able to decide on a quarterback and develop that player into a winning, consistent player, I have no idea. But it doesn't reflect well on the staff, neither the head coach nor the coordinator. Purdue has no offensive identity whatsoever three years into this thing now.
Defensively, it is hard to be good on defense at Purdue. Look at the history of this program and Indiana's both. Not a coincidence that those ledgers are littered with turnstile defenses.
But Purdue should be able to tackle and get stops on third-and-a-dozen at this point.
It's not too much to ask.
Someone's going to take the fall for it here in the short term. There's no good reason whatsoever for it to not be Sunday, unless Purdue wants to toy with recruits by letting two big visit weekends come and go first. That would seem disingenuous and counterproductive to recruiting, but I don't know how this is going to get handled.
We do know Darrell Hazell isn't going anywhere. We know your opinion. Don't take it out on me.
Can this change overnight? I don't know what real progress has been achieved from the mess Hazell took over. I don't know how much of what progress Purdue says it's seeing is simple confirmation bias or just something you have to say when you have to say something.
But as far as progress, goes the product on the field is reflecting very little, if any.
We're still seeing a stunted offense, a porous defense and a roster so undisciplined it finished off the season today with a cool half dozen personal fouls.
Hazell, by every account is a good man and has represented Purdue well as such, and that is worth noting, but it has won the Boilermakers not a single game, nor will it.
It is absolutely Purdue's right to keep its coach following the bottoming out of the past three seasons.
But if that move is going to be made on the basis of progress, the eyeball test is telling an entirely different story.
-------------------
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
