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List your top 3 to 5 potential HC candidates...realistically speaking.

Would love to have him, but IIRC, he has had some offers to leave Duke and hasn't taken them. It would probably take a pretty impressive offer to pull him away from a pretty good situation.

Cutcliffe is a southern guy.

We also are not going to pull a guy in a good situation at another P-5 school. Again, that's not a Purdue issue - Cutcliffe wouldn't be going to Illinois, Minnesota, etc. either. That move would make no sense.

Let's be realistic here.
 
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It is fine to disagree but your FACTS on his record are so far off makes one doubt any of what you posted true. His best record at Miami was 11-1 and he rebuilt NC and beat ND!
I should have been more clear, I meant didn't win more than 8 games in any season at UNC with a roster of NFL players. He was great at Miami, that's why I said I'd be alright with him. He underperformed hugely in my opinion at UNC with a stacked roster.
 
Oregron may be headed back to U$C?
I would vote for Scott Frost. Although you won't find it on his resume, he deserves a great deal of credit for collegiate accolades given to Chip Kelley

That is, literally, the stupidest thing that I've ever seen posted on the Internet.

It's almost an audacious level of idiocy.
 
I should have been more clear, I meant didn't win more than 8 games in any season at UNC with a roster of NFL players. He was great at Miami, that's why I said I'd be alright with him. He underperformed hugely in my opinion at UNC with a stacked roster.

Agree completely on this point. My wife is a UNC grad and we live in the Triangle. He recruited some great players but never got the team to achieve with any consistency.
 
Agree completely on this point. My wife is a UNC grad and we live in the Triangle. He recruited some great players but never got the team to achieve with any consistency.
That and he employed the Run and Shoop Offense which is 30% of our problem now.
 
1.fuente
2. Fuente
3. El Fuente

4-1000: everybody else

Pay this dude $4mil to fix our bullshit program.

Fuente will probably be the "hot" pick for coaching hires this year. And I'd suspect he will stay south.

Honestly, this will probably be frowned upon by people with these ridiculous expectations, but I would be quite happy picking up a top assistant from one of the upper-echelon Big Ten schools. These people know what it takes in the Big Ten, they know what they're competing against and they know what works and what doesn't.

Now, this is obviously easier said than done. There's been some coaching turnover at some of these programs at Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan.

I think one problem with Hazell is he just seems to be running Purdue's program like he did at Kent State. We're not a MAC school. That doesn't mean that's what every MAC coach would do if they come here. But we need someone who wants to raise expectations and make changes and lay out a direction so we understand they are talking the talk.
 
1.fuente
2. Fuente
3. El Fuente

4-1000: everybody else

Pay this dude $4mil to fix our bullshit program.

I'm beginning to think he would be our best option if not already out of our league. TCU/Patterson protege, turned around a dismal fb program at a basketball school, young, exciting offense. With all the job openings this off season we may not be able to get him. But what if we thought outside the box?... What if we made a play for the Memphis AD in a package deal?? I don't know much about the AD Bowen other than what I've read in a couple articles, but he seems to understand the importance of a football program and gets a lot of credit for their turnaround.
I think AD-HC synergy is often underestimated, and the separate parts are not usually as successful as the whole. It would be a bold and potentially risky move requiring vision and strategy from above the AD position, which is why it won't happen, but I wonder if it wouldn't be our best option for getting both the best AD and HC possible.
 
I'm beginning to think he would be our best option if not already out of our league. TCU/Patterson protege, turned around a dismal fb program at a basketball school, young, exciting offense. With all the job openings this off season we may not be able to get him. But what if we thought outside the box?... What if we made a play for the Memphis AD in a package deal?? I don't know much about the AD Bowen other than what I've read in a couple articles, but he seems to understand the importance of a football program and gets a lot of credit for their turnaround.
I think AD-HC synergy is often underestimated, and the separate parts are not usually as successful as the whole. It would be a bold and potentially risky move requiring vision and strategy from above the AD position, which is why it won't happen, but I wonder if it wouldn't be our best option for getting both the best AD and HC possible.

$4mil and a lot of autonomy is what it would likely take to get him. We won't pay it...but he could be bought i'm pretty sure.

Considering the starting salary in the SEC is around $3mil nowadays, we'd have to come VERY strong. We won't....but I think we could land him by being super aggressive.

All of that said, he could be top of our list but we are probably at the bottom of his and I can't blame him.

That said, I only think 1 SEC job will come open this year (USC which is already open) and they seem to feel that Kirby Smart (DC at Alabama) will be their next HC, even though I feel Fuente would be a much better fit for the program as a whole. So in the end, he might want a great SEC job but it seems that the ones you would want to have are taken. The best jobs likely to be open at the end of the season are the jobs open now (USC and USC).

Also, I don't understand why people feel like we would ever fire Morgan Burke. I'm not saying we shouldn't....but it ain't going to happen. Unlike Hazell, there is at least some success in the past on his resume and with him being so close to forced retirement anyway, he will be hiring our next football coach for better or for worse.
 
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$4mil and a lot of autonomy is what it would likely take to get him. We won't pay it...but he could be bought i'm pretty sure.

Considering the starting salary in the SEC is around $3mil nowadays, we'd have to come VERY strong. We won't....but I think we could land him by being super aggressive.

All of that said, he could be top of our list but we are probably at the bottom of his and I can't blame him.

That said, I only think 1 SEC job will come open this year (USC which is already open) and they seem to feel that Kirby Smart (DC at Alabama) will be their next HC, even though I feel Fuente would be a much better fit for the program as a whole. So in the end, he might want a great SEC job but it seems that the ones you would want to have are taken. The best jobs likely to be open at the end of the season are the jobs open now (USC and USC).

Also, I don't understand why people feel like we would ever fire Morgan Burke. I'm not saying we shouldn't....but it ain't going to happen. Unlike Hazell, there is at least some success in the past on his resume and with him being so close to forced retirement anyway, he will be hiring our next football coach for better or for worse.

Thank you on the MB statement. It has nothing to do with liking him or not, he's not going to be fired (particularly midyear).
 
we have Hazell for 2 more years so just deal with it.....Shoop might be let go at year end if we lose to IU.......

I actually wish we would have kept Danny Hope.....players coach who didn't back down from anything......

If someone new going forward bring back Spack.....or keep Hudson as head coach.....
 
$4mil and a lot of autonomy is what it would likely take to get him. We won't pay it...but he could be bought i'm pretty sure.

Considering the starting salary in the SEC is around $3mil nowadays, we'd have to come VERY strong. We won't....but I think we could land him by being super aggressive.

All of that said, he could be top of our list but we are probably at the bottom of his and I can't blame him.

That said, I only think 1 SEC job will come open this year (USC which is already open) and they seem to feel that Kirby Smart (DC at Alabama) will be their next HC, even though I feel Fuente would be a much better fit for the program as a whole. So in the end, he might want a great SEC job but it seems that the ones you would want to have are taken. The best jobs likely to be open at the end of the season are the jobs open now (USC and USC).

Also, I don't understand why people feel like we would ever fire Morgan Burke. I'm not saying we shouldn't....but it ain't going to happen. Unlike Hazell, there is at least some success in the past on his resume and with him being so close to forced retirement anyway, he will be hiring our next football coach for better or for worse.

OK. Here's another crazy idea... How about an AD succession plan? Instead of firing Burke, let him stay on until next year and be a part of the solution. It's about the only chance he has now (short of a Final Four) of offsetting the damage the demise of the FB program has done to his legacy. We've seen it done with coaches w/ mixed results. In hind sight we could have done much worse than Hope and Painter. As much as Burke has fallen out of favor with the fans, he is probably the only in the Purdue administration with the vision and know-how to pull something like this off. I personally would value his judgment on a Purdue AD hire more than a FB coaching hire.
 
OK. Here's another crazy idea... How about an AD succession plan? Instead of firing Burke, let him stay on until next year and be a part of the solution. It's about the only chance he has now (short of a Final Four) of offsetting the damage the demise of the FB program has done to his legacy. We've seen it done with coaches w/ mixed results. In hind sight we could have done much worse than Hope and Painter. As much as Burke has fallen out of favor with the fans, he is probably the only in the Purdue administration with the vision and know-how to pull something like this off. I personally would value his judgment on a Purdue AD hire more than a FB coaching hire.

I had a boss who used to say second rate people hire third rate people, and first rate people hire first rate people. I don't want Burke being any part of hiring the next AD or football coach. We'll have Burke 2.0.
 
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I had a boss who used to say second rate people hire third rate people, and first rate people hire first rate people. I don't want Burke being any part of hiring the next AD or football coach. We'll have Burke 2.0.

If second rate people hire third rate people, doesn't it make sense that first rate people hire second rate people.....but then who the hell hired the "first" first rate person.....I think I just blew my own mind!
 
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OK. Here's another crazy idea... How about an AD succession plan? Instead of firing Burke, let him stay on until next year and be a part of the solution. It's about the only chance he has now (short of a Final Four) of offsetting the damage the demise of the FB program has done to his legacy. We've seen it done with coaches w/ mixed results. In hind sight we could have done much worse than Hope and Painter. As much as Burke has fallen out of favor with the fans, he is probably the only in the Purdue administration with the vision and know-how to pull something like this off. I personally would value his judgment on a Purdue AD hire more than a FB coaching hire.

There are VERY few situations in which succession plans like that work. Men's basketball worked out because it LITERALLY was the perfect situation. You had a Purdue basketball alum, who played for the then-current coach, who was an assistant with the then-current coach's closest coaching friend, who was recently promoted to head coach when the then-current coach's closest friend was hired at Illinois, and was willing to "sit out" one year before taking over for his former coach who was then retiring at the school he went to.

You don't get much more inter-connected than that.

You are NOT going to find that most of the time. Look at Hope. We certainly do not have an "AD in waiting" being developed at Purdue (and NO, Cardinal is not that).

Also, while I'm certainly not saying we'd be better off with Burke, there are NOT a lot of good athletic directors out there. And quite frankly, our athletic department leadership has been in place for quite some time - I wouldn't be shocked to see one promoted as such (and that includes Nancy Cross).
 
There are VERY few situations in which succession plans like that work. Men's basketball worked out because it LITERALLY was the perfect situation. You had a Purdue basketball alum, who played for the then-current coach, who was an assistant with the then-current coach's closest coaching friend, who was recently promoted to head coach when the then-current coach's closest friend was hired at Illinois, and was willing to "sit out" one year before taking over for his former coach who was then retiring at the school he went to.

You don't get much more inter-connected than that.

You are NOT going to find that most of the time. Look at Hope. We certainly do not have an "AD in waiting" being developed at Purdue (and NO, Cardinal is not that).

Also, while I'm certainly not saying we'd be better off with Burke, there are NOT a lot of good athletic directors out there. And quite frankly, our athletic department leadership has been in place for quite some time - I wouldn't be shocked to see one promoted as such (and that includes Nancy Cross).
Nancy Cross is 60 years old, and will be 62 when Burke steps down. No way she gets the gig.
 
Nancy Cross is the one who screwed up the John Purdue Club. Morgan has got to take her when he goes.
Oh god no.
The last time I saw her she was driving the golf cart around Ross Ade with beer cans on the back. No way that should represent Purdue.
 
I had a boss who used to say second rate people hire third rate people, and first rate people hire first rate people. I don't want Burke being any part of hiring the next AD or football coach. We'll have Burke 2.0.

I appreciate your response. However, if Burke has no say, then who will be the voice? Daniels? An impartial committee?
 
Butch Davis if you want someone that is a winner, can rebuild a program, recruit and run decent Offensive & Defensive teams! He probably would not cost and arm and a leg say like a Sumlin!

I wish we could get a coach with a killer instinct who could develop that in his players.
 
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I think Sarkisian will be available cheap when he is done drying out. He will also be very hungry.
 
I think Sarkisian will be available cheap when he is done drying out. He will also be very hungry.
coming to our program would up the stress level a notch or two, wouldn't be a good idea for him, in all fairness, he didn't do much while up at UW.
 
Ignore this post if you just look at things at surface value. Based on their careers so far, Dino Babers would be a better coaching hire than Justin Fuente. Babers' career has mirrored Urban Meyers' early coaching career relatively closely.

If you're just looking at the surface, Fuente looks better. His Memphis team is undefeated this year, including a 44-41 win over Babers' Bowling Green team. But let's look a little deeper.

Babers' previous coaching stint was at Eastern Illinois. He took a team that had only won 3 games in the 2 years before he got there. In his 1st year, Babers won 7 games, and then 12 games in his second year. Similarly, Memphis had only won 3 games in the 2 years before Fuente. But he only won 4 games in his 1st year and 3 in his 2nd. This is pretty clear indication that Babers can win with any talent and Fuente needs time to groom his own.

Babers took over a Bowling Green team that had won 8 & 10 games in the 2 years before him. He went 8-6 in his 1st year. So on the surface you'd say, "He did worse than the year before. He sucks." But underneath, you can see that Babers lost the star quarterback to a season-long injury in the 1st game of the season. Babers overcame great adversity to still advance to the MAC championship game and then win a bowl game. On the surface, Babers' 5-2 record this year isn't nearly as impressive as Fuente's perfect record. But keep in mind, Babers' team has averaged an impressive 38 points per game on the road against 3 power conference schools, including two wins against B1G schools. Fuente does have the 44-41 win over Babers, so you could try to make the argument that once they've had a chance to settle in, Fuente's best is better. But when the score is 44-41, that is the definition of splitting hairs.

Babers has proven that he can win anywhere right away and that he can overcome adversity, two things Fuente has not proven. On the surface, Fuente's signature win against an SEC team is more impressive than any win Babers has had. But under the surface you can see that Fuente's win was a rare home game for a mid-major against a power school and that SEC team has a 1st year quarterback and had lost a game by a full 4 touchdowns just 2 week earlier.
 
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What coach "worth his salt" would want to come to Purdue? Any good coach or assistant coach would be insane to take over this program....that's the problem. There's no upside to being the Purdue coach. It's not a career position and it's not a "stepping stone" position....it's either a final stop or a dead-end position. Anybody that that we get will be somebody that other P5 programs passed on, so they'll overpay for a second rate coach and try & put lipstick on the pig so they can pacify the fans for another few years. We're doomed!
 
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Ignore this post if you just look at things at surface value. Based on their careers so far, Dino Babers would be a better coaching hire than Justin Fuente. Babers' career has mirrored Urban Meyers' early coaching career relatively closely.

If you're just looking at the surface, Fuente looks better. His Memphis team is undefeated this year, including a 44-41 win over Babers' Bowling Green team. But let's look a little deeper.

Babers' previous coaching stint was at Eastern Illinois. He took a team that had only won 3 games in the 2 years before he got there. In his 1st year, Babers won 7 games, and then 12 games in his second year. Similarly, Memphis had only won 3 games in the 2 years before Fuente. But he only won 4 games in his 1st year and 3 in his 2nd. This is pretty clear indication that Babers can win with any talent and Fuente needs time to groom his own.

Babers took over a Bowling Green team that had won 8 & 10 games in the 2 years before him. He went 8-6 in his 1st year. So on the surface you'd say, "He did worse than the year before. He sucks." But underneath, you can see that Babers lost the star quarterback to a season-long injury in the 1st game of the season. Babers overcame great adversity to still advance to the MAC championship game and then win a bowl game. On the surface, Babers' 5-2 record this year isn't nearly as impressive as Fuente's perfect record. But keep in mind, Babers' team has averaged an impressive 38 points per game on the road against 3 power conference schools, including two wins against B1G schools. Fuente does have the 44-41 win over Babers, so you could try to make the argument that once they've had a chance to settle in, Fuente's best is better. But when the score is 44-41, that is the definition of splitting hairs.

Babers has proven that he can win anywhere right away and that he can overcome adversity, two things Fuente has not proven. On the surface, Fuente's signature win against an SEC team is more impressive than any win Babers has had. But under the surface you can see that Fuente's win was a rare home game for a mid-major against a power school and that SEC team has a 1st year quarterback and had lost a game by a full 4 touchdowns just 2 week earlier.


Babers also has Purdue ties so this could help as well. He would be coming to the Big Ten west which is usually up for grabs so he could make his mark on that too.
 
I live in SC now, and listening to local sports talk radio the other day, USouth Carolina fans are talking about going after Charlie Strong to replace Spurrier. They're talking about the pay package being about $4M and not even blinking at that number.
Now there's a school that's willing to make the financial commitment to football.
Does paying a coach guarantee success? No, but it at least puts you in the game for the top candidates.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid when Burke does pull the trigger, he's going to try and go cheap and get some MAC coach nobody's ever heard of.
 
Cutcliffe is a southern guy.

We also are not going to pull a guy in a good situation at another P-5 school. Again, that's not a Purdue issue - Cutcliffe wouldn't be going to Illinois, Minnesota, etc. either. That move would make no sense.

Let's be realistic here.

I meant at South Carolina...not California. That would be a perfect job for him to step in to.
 
Maybe look to the NFL. NFL guys to college have had reasonable success. Even an NFL coordinator- we need an established system in place. For recruiting the guy can use his NFL connections as a recruitment tool. Just an idea. If we go college route, it has to be a guy with 4 years experience at one place... i.e. DH won at Kent with someone else's players. The guys he left behind (his seniors) have gone 4-8, 2-9, and are 3-4.
 
I live in SC now, and listening to local sports talk radio the other day, USouth Carolina fans are talking about going after Charlie Strong to replace Spurrier. They're talking about the pay package being about $4M and not even blinking at that number.
Now there's a school that's willing to make the financial commitment to football.
Does paying a coach guarantee success? No, but it at least puts you in the game for the top candidates.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid when Burke does pull the trigger, he's going to try and go cheap and get some MAC coach nobody's ever heard of.

Unfortunately, that's the type of coach you are going to get if you want to go after a guy at Purdue.

The only other option I can see actually mirrors what they did at South Carolina prior to Spurrier going there. Remember they hired Lou Hotlz to make it appear that they were committed to getting the program on track. He struggled BUT proved that it could be a place for big coaches and success. His seasons at South Carolina are as follows:
1999: 0 - 11
2000: 8 - 4
2001: 9 - 3
2002: 5 - 7
2003: 5 - 7
2004: 6 - 6

If Purdue can find a coach like that, they can establish some success and get a bigger name coach down the road. Similar to Holtz now would be Mack Brown who is currently an ESPN analyst and former UT coach
 
I live in SC now, and listening to local sports talk radio the other day, USouth Carolina fans are talking about going after Charlie Strong to replace Spurrier. They're talking about the pay package being about $4M and not even blinking at that number.
Now there's a school that's willing to make the financial commitment to football.
Does paying a coach guarantee success? No, but it at least puts you in the game for the top candidates.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid when Burke does pull the trigger, he's going to try and go cheap and get some MAC coach nobody's ever heard of.

Yes, a school like South Carolina will pay because they have the money.

This notion we need to snag a coach from another P-5 school is just not realistic. Yes, are some schools able to do that? Absolutely. But 60% of the Big Ten doesn't do that, including us. To act like we're the only ones...is just not true.
 
Yes, a school like South Carolina will pay because they have the money.

This notion we need to snag a coach from another P-5 school is just not realistic. Yes, are some schools able to do that? Absolutely. But 60% of the Big Ten doesn't do that, including us. To act like we're the only ones...is just not true.


You are correct. Most Big Ten teams hire guys from the MAC or similar conferences. This being said, Purdue should be able to find a decent coach to take over. I would hope we could get a guy like Dino Babers from Bowling Green. He pay Hazell 2.2 million a year which isn't terrible. Most coaches would be happy with that.
 
You are correct. Most Big Ten teams hire guys from the MAC or similar conferences. This being said, Purdue should be able to find a decent coach to take over. I would hope we could get a guy like Dino Babers from Bowling Green. He pay Hazell 2.2 million a year which isn't terrible. Most coaches would be happy with that.

It will be an interesting coaching year with a number of vacancies already existing.

The one disadvantage to Purdue, if it were to make a coaching change, is that a school like Maryland can get it's business in order during this time. This would include figuring out how much they can spend, really vet their coaching candidates, gauge interest from their agents, etc.

When you have a coaching vacancy public, it makes it much easier to do this. You risk a lot trying to do this "under the radar" and if it does happen to get out there, it can be very embarrassing.
 
It's unfortunate, but Purdue will not be making a head coaching change, because the school administration is not committed to a winning football program. If they were, the current head coach would have been fired by now! The only thing that will force a change is when the Big 10 gives Purdue an ultimatum that the football program is so bad it no longer qualifies for membership in the Big 10!
 
It's unfortunate, but Purdue will not be making a head coaching change, because the school administration is not committed to a winning football program. If they were, the current head coach would have been fired by now! The only thing that will force a change is when the Big 10 gives Purdue an ultimatum that the football program is so bad it no longer qualifies for membership in the Big 10!
time to go after Matt Campbell at Toledo.
 
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