Interesting Quote

[StateStreet123]

“The way we’ve put it to Mike during the time we recruited and have reminded him along the way … is that his job is to tell us what’s required to win at championship levels, departmentwide, and make the case for it, and we will fund,” Berghoff said.


Is this quote an indirect way of throwing Morgan Burke under the bus? The way I interpret the quote, Berghoff is insinuating that good 'ol Morgan never really made a case that more was required, and he happily kept pinching pennies the way he liked to do it?

 

[TheBoris]

“The way we’ve put it to Mike during the time we recruited and have reminded him along the way … is that his job is to tell us what’s required to win at championship levels, departmentwide, and make the case for it, and we will fund,” Berghoff said.


Is this quote an indirect way of throwing Morgan Burke under the bus? The way I interpret the quote, Berghoff is insinuating that good 'ol Morgan never really made a case that more was required, and he happily kept pinching pennies the way he liked to do it?

I interpret that in exactly the opposite way. Berghoff is saying "The penny-pinching of the past is over. The constipated Morgan Burke system has failed the university. It was well-intended but it has been counter-productive. MBII was hired to fix football, we're giving him the authority to do it and the onus is upon him to get it done."

And that's what I truly believe is going down right now at Purdue.

 

[GoldandBlackintheSaddleAgain]

Interesting quote indeed, thanks for posting it.

While it can definitely be interpreted as you just speculated, it could also be that it took hitting historical levels of failure for the ENTIRE admin / BOT to fully appreciate football (at least being at a 'competitive' level for Chrissakes).

I do not know The Moruge personally but he comes off (in interviews, sound clips, etc) as being pretty arrogant; pompous; a prime example is his "It'll be FUN to see who ends up being right: the pundits, or me" when discussing the hiring and wretched results re The Haze.

However, MB1 DID do some very good things here for a long time. Tho I think he acts at times as an elitist, smug lil bastage -- to not acknowledge his contributions to Old Purdue would be ignorant and myopic of me (and/or others whom hold a negative value of MB).

So I suppose back to your question -- no..not really throwing Da Morgue under the bus. Perhaps an indictment of MUCH of the 'Old Guard' (pre-Mitch as well) and indicating a new, University-wide mindset and APPRECIATION for PU Football.

Hope so! now onward. BTFU & HD


*post script*
While not entirely MB1's fault for the embarrassing mess that FB has become...he IS responsible for two poor hires (DH1 and the EGREGIOUS DH2) and gambling with the funds / revenue on other projects. ~(thank you Mr. Obvious)

Frankly...I feel that Burkes biggest errors were hubris mixed with quasi-coasting into 'pre-retirement' mode!!
It was HIM...not Tiller...who lost fire and became lazy in his twilight.

 

[BoilerBiker]

Still sounds like directors cup 25/85 stuff

 

[ossim]

To be fair to all parties involved, it's one thing to state whats needed to compete at the highest level level and another thing to present your case in a convincing fashion particularly if your audience are not change champions. It may be Burke getting thrown under the bus just as much as the board has picked up a different attitude with Bobinski.

AD: we need lights
Board: we don't want night games for football
AD: night games give us more exposure and is more convenient to travelling fans
Board: give me something quantifiable for a school like Purdue. we aren't Notre Dame
AD: Notre Dame competes for championships
Board: Let's talk about Olympic sports

 

[FirstDownB]

MB1 should have been turning over tables, kicking and screaming to the BOT before things went to hell is how interpret this.

 

[New Pal Boiler]

“The way we’ve put it to Mike during the time we recruited and have reminded him along the way … is that his job is to tell us what’s required to win at championship levels, departmentwide, and make the case for it, and we will fund,” Berghoff said.


Is this quote an indirect way of throwing Morgan Burke under the bus? The way I interpret the quote, Berghoff is insinuating that good 'ol Morgan never really made a case that more was required, and he happily kept pinching pennies the way he liked to do it?

Let's not read too much into this. The BOT is alarmed by the stunning drop in football revenue, causing the AD to tap the cash reserve, and Mitch has been told by multiple donors that football needs to be fixed before they give to his fundraising campaign.

It's about the money.

 

[brees4life]

Any way you read it Morgan Burke was a failure.

 

[New Pal Boiler]

Any way you read it Morgan Burke was a failure.

Ultimately, he will be remembered for the worst Purdue football teams ever. That's it.

 

[TheBoris]

Morgan Burke was better than George King. DeMoss, Agase, Burtnett, Akers, Colletto, those were five terrible hires.

 

[New Pal Boiler]

Morgan Burke was better than George King. DeMoss, Agase, Burtnett, Akers, Colletto, those were five terrible hires.

I can't speak to agase or demoss, but you left out Jim Young, and I wouldn't consider Burtnett or Colletto as "terrible", especially when looking at them thru a "Hazey" lens.

 

[PaBoiler78]

I can't speak to agase or demoss, but you left out Jim Young, and I wouldn't consider Burtnett or Colletto as "terrible", especially when looking at them thru a "Hazey" lens.

the only 2 things I liked about MB1 was the Curry hire, she knew how to recruit and the new wrestling coach is a good hire.

 

[IronChefBBQ]

I can't speak to agase or demoss, but you left out Jim Young, and I wouldn't consider Burtnett or Colletto as "terrible", especially when looking at them thru a "Hazey" lens.

Just How Bad do you have to be to make Colletto look decent. Wow...

 

[TheBoris]

I can't speak to agase or demoss, but you left out Jim Young, and I wouldn't consider Burtnett or Colletto as "terrible", especially when looking at them thru a "Hazey" lens.

Let's look at the actual numbers. George King had one good hire and five bad ones. Note that Jim Young coached at Purdue for only four years.

Morgan Burke had one good hire and Tiller coached at Purdue for eleven years. Haze was a disaster and I don't consider Danny Hope to be a good coach but nonetheless with a .449 winning percentage he was better than DeMoss, Agase, Akers, Burtnett or Colletto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Purdue_Boilermakers_head_football_coaches

 

[FearTheTrain]

Any way you read it Morgan Burke was a failure.

I'm not so sure this is the case. Did he mess up horribly at the end with his football hires? Yes. The coach-in-waiting was the worst concept he ever stuck to. It worked great in basketball due to mostly luck with an alumni being a great coach with a solid (but not perfect resume) taking over for Keady. It should have NEVER happened in football. The only two football coaches who would have ever considered that are Hope and Spack.

He was far from perfect and stayed at least 5 years too long, but he did do some good. It's weird for me to stick up for him because I always believed he needed to be more progressive like a successful CEO should. It just doesn't seem right to label him a complete failure. Without any research and me just wasting time at work on a Friday, I would give him an overall report card somewhere around a C. Football D+, Basketball B, Other Sports B+, Budget N/A (managed books well but should have demanded more $$), Public Relations C-. If the rumors are true of how much several of the coaches disliked him, then the grades should be worse. It's a shame that he could never capitalize on the football success 1999-05 and that is what he will be remembered as, but I certainly don't consider him a failure.

 

[TheBoris]

I'm not so sure this is the case. Did he mess up horribly at the end with his football hires? Yes. The coach-in-waiting was the worst concept he ever stuck to. It worked great in basketball due to mostly luck with an alumni being a great coach with a solid (but not perfect resume) taking over for Keady. It should have NEVER happened in football. The only two football coaches who would have ever considered that are Hope and Spack.

He was far from perfect and stayed at least 5 years too long, but he did do some good. It's weird for me to stick up for him because I always believed he needed to be more progressive like a successful CEO should. It just doesn't seem right to label him a complete failure. Without any research and me just wasting time at work on a Friday, I would give him an overall report card somewhere around a C. Football D+, Basketball B, Other Sports B+, Budget N/A (managed books well but should have demanded more $$), Public Relations C-. If the rumors are true of how much several of the coaches disliked him, then the grades should be worse. It's a shame that he could never capitalize on the football success 1999-05 and that is what he will be remembered as, but I certainly don't consider him a failure.

Overall winning percentage of the six George King hires over 27 years; .421
Overall winning percentage of the three Morgan Burke hires over 20 years: .483

 

[Bob the Boiler]

Tiller hated him. I was at a JPC golf outing where Tiller referred to him as "Big M, Little organ". Didn't pull any punches about his dislike for Burke.