I was barely alive at this time but I had this discussion on KHC before and Alan always explained it as myriad of reasons with having to compete with IU as recruits being one of them if I recall correctly.
In the context of this discussion, I'm just saying the chances that Rose would lead Purdue to a Final Four now if he were the coach are very slim. He wasn't comfortable going head to head with IU for recruits (and yes, USF also paid him big) so there is no way he would be more successful in today's recruiting world where the competition is coming from everywhere for the best players.
In light of what has come out recently about Louisville and their recruiting habits, people have to realize that there is a trade off involved. Unless you think we should start hiring escorts to up our recruiting game, and I don't think Louisville is the only place that it has probably happened at, then I can accept the fact that it's going to be harder to land some of the top kids at Purdue than it is at other places.
