- It is the only other Big Ten school whose name does not include the state in which it resides and therefore loses the inherent de facto "home state u" allegiance.
- It is actually the land grant institution for Indiana and therefore a public school, but they must constantly fight the fact they are not a private school (which has pros and cons).
- It is in West Lafayette, Indiana which you would think would be a true college town benefit, however football's most powerful brand is a stone's throw away and the section of the state they own is limited to the northern quadrant of Indiana (Indianapolis and south is Hoosier country).
I started to truly appreciate what Joe Tiller did for the program and with the shameful exception of a debacle of his final season basically put Purdue in the shoe-in category for annual bowl game. I also then drifted to the fact I've always felt if I had to be pinned down to root for another Big Ten team it would be Purdue. Why? Simply because I felt their fans were the nicest of any school we play. They're a likable lot those Boilermakers. Extend it down to the handful of Purdue grads I know and they're all great people as well. What does this have to do with karma?
Well, last night I attended the Sox-Dodgers slugfest (sidebar on Northwestern's Mark Loretta coming up) and happened to find myself surrounded by four Purdue grads all who had come independent of one another (including one wearing an IU hat!). Of course, they were all extremely nice and then to add to the karma it was astronaut night at The Cell so of course Purdue's reputation for churning out astronauts just tied in so nicely to the conversation.
I was trying to place myself in the mind of a 17-year-old recruit who was on the circuit and looking at say, Northwestern, Purdue, Notre Dame, Boston College and Virginia. Why these? Why not? Would not Purdue have the uphill battle in this case? Then I realized the geographical location of a school (ie. rural vs city) likely doesn't play THAT much of a factor in the decision making process. It is all about the relationship with the coach, the fit of the actual school and then the ancillary things, which in all honesty likely end up in silly things like locker rooms (see: Oregon). The point is I'm impressed by the program that Purdue has built with what I perceive to be quite a stack of challenges. Most importantly though, the fact they regularly fill 65,000 seats (yes, I know they have 5 times the graduates and many stay in driving distance) led me to want to explore the root of the problem of why Evanston and the immediate surrounding area alone is not enough to pack Ryan Field. I have very specific opinions on this and they directly relate to NU's tax exemption status (more on this later). I'm going to spend some time exploring the college town USA phenomenon and why not Evanston in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, bringing the karma thing full circle I received an email late last night from our newest YouTube guru NU-Dog who posted the game-winning Brian Gowins FG from the 1996 Purdue game. I swear we need to revisit 1996 as a weekly episodic entitled The Lost Season. The amount of Cardiac 'Cats games from '96 is still mind-boggling. Check out the packed Ryan Field for Purdue.
5 comments:
Thank you for the kind words. That 1996 season makes me angry for a number of reasons:
1. Muchof that talent on that 3-8 team came back the next year to go 9-3.
2. Right before that Northwestern game we inexplicably upset a very good Michigan team 9-3 at Ross-Ade, so we had some talent at least.
3. After that Northwestern game we lost to Indiana in Jim Colletto and Bill Mallory's final games as coaches at their institutions. IU broke a 15 game Big Ten losing streak against us that day, their last win coming in their previous visit to Ross-Ade in 1994. It was the last time Indiana won in West Lafayette, and you wonder why we hate Colletto
Interesting. I think maybe you put too much emphasis on the name issue. While people who don't know much about the school probably do presume that it is private, there's certainly no confusion among Indiana residents. While I'm sure Travis will agree that there are more self-identified "IU fans" than "Purdue fans" in the state, it doesn't translate and never has translated into a football attendance advantage for IU. It's impossible to know, but I have a hard time imagining there would be much difference in fan support if Purdue were called "Indiana A&M" or some such thing. I think Indiana residents are used to the fact that one of the two major state schools is known as "Purdue" instead of "State," "Tech," or "A&M."
I think one thing that helps Purdue immensely, compared to IU, is that it is two hours closer to Chicago than IU is. I think that is good for Purdue's attendance and recruiting. IU's problem isn't a single generation of bad football. The last 15 years have been a bit below average for IU, but not by much. Unfortunately, 1995-2008 is more representative of IU's history than 1986-1994 was.
I think Purdue and IU face some disadvantages, because they share a fairly small state with each other and Notre Dame, and there are a number of BCS schools very close to the border. But if history is any guide, IU is a tougher job.
BTW, Travis, I remember hearing a great piece of trivia after Purdue's upset of Notre Dame in Tiller's second game. At that point, Purdue's two most recent wins were against Notre Dame and Michigan and its two most recent losses were to Toledo and Indiana.
Nice post, but every program faces challenges. Before Alvarez, Wisconsin was awful...before Frye, Iowa was tenth in the league- year-in-year-out. Tiller, at least initially, decided that his goal was winning a lot of games. Toward the end of his time at Purdue, he started talking more and more about the limitations you speak of. And while they're there, they can also be viewed as opportunity.
I watched the second-half of the Purdue-Northwestern game at Ross Ade as NU was on the way to the Rose Bowl, with a professor at NU. By the fourth quarter, there were a lot of empty seats in Ross Ade, but my college room mate and I were gluttons for punishment. The Wildcat fans in the stadium were nasty and brash. The professor explained it as a cultural problem- NU fans didn't know how to win with class. I think that's changed quite a bit, and Fitzgerald represents the school well and fans follow his lead...plus, the road was paved by winning over the past 15 years.
It's an awfully tough transition to go from loser to winner, though...the clash of culture can be messy at times...but like the above, it can also be an opportunity as win-starved fans will travel to support their team and the energy will probably be pretty good.
John,
The out of state private school perception does come into play. When I met my wife and told her Iw as a Purdue grad she had no idea it was a state school. Growing up in southern California and South Florida she thought it was a private school.
B-dowd,
My brother-in-law and I were at the '95 Purdue-Northwestern game as well. As we were leaving we poked our heads into the student section and, as usual, Purdue was milling about on the field with time winding down, showing no urgency at all in a semi-close game. Some drunken fan Shouted into the night, clear as day, "WAY TO WORK THE CLOCK, JIM! YOU'RE A REAL MASTER AT IT." We still laugh at that to this day.
Thanks for all of your true "insider" perspectives from the Hoosier State. Glad to know I at least provoked some interesting "debate".
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