A look back: Introducing Purdue's football coaches

When attending coach Barry Odom’s introductory press conference as Purdue’s 38th football coach, I realized I have attended the last eight dating back Fred Akers being introduced in 1986.

I was around when Leon Burnett was announced as head coach in Dec. 1981, replacing Jim Young, but I don’t recall a formal press conference as the baton was quickly passed from Young to Burtnett (who had served as Young’s defensive coordinator.

Dating back to Akers, each intro to the Purdue community had a similar tone, with fans and Purdue dignitaries invited to the introduction. Here are some quick recollections.

Purdue’s AD didn’t endorse the Akers hire in 1986

Athletic director George King had set his eyes on hiring Ron Meyer after King fired Burtnett in the last weeks of the 1986 season. Meyer, who had been embroiled in the SMU recruiting controversy a few years earlier that gave the school the NCAA version of the death penalty, had been “cleansed” to the point of being acceptable to the Purdue brass, and was all set to be hired. In fact, as a first-year employee of the Purdue athletic department, I remember setting up chairs for a Monday morning press conference that never happened. As it turns out, Indianapolis Colts GM Jim Irsay “intercepted” Meyer, taking him to Indy instead of West Lafayette.

As the story goes, President Steven C. Beering and BOT chair Don Powers were enamored with Akers, but King was not. A few days later, Akers was hired. In his introductory press conference at Purdue, Akers announced that the indoor practice facility would be built spending $9.3 million to get that done. It opened about 18 months later.

Colletto’s presser was the most low-key

Presumably, King’s choice when Akers was hired, Coach him Colletto was announced in Dec. 1990. Colletto had served as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator under John Cooper after being the same under Burtnett. This press conference was the most no-frills of them all, taking place in the basement of Mackey Arena.

Tiller promised he would win big at Purdue

Nov. 24, 1996. The Sunday morning of Purdue’s men’s basketball season opener against Idaho included a press conference to announce coach Joe Tiller. It didn’t take Tiller long to ingratiate himself to the media and fans gathered in the Mackey Arena conference room. He promised success and championships (which Tiller delivered) and did so while telling a few funny stories.

Athletic Director Morgan Burke, as is the custom, wanted everyone to know that Tiller was his first choice, especially after an attempt to go after Notre Dame’s top assistant Bob Davie was thwarted when Davie was hired to replace Lou Holtz at Notre Dame. I remember being called into Burke’s office to do a one-on-one interview with Burke after the press conference because Burke wanted the fan base to know that he had consulted some high-powered Purdue football alums like Bob Griese when deciding on Tiller.

Football’s transition plan–Tiller to Hope

There may have been smiles at the Jan. 2008 press conference to announce Burke’s transition plan to have Coach Joe Tiller finish out the 2008 season with Hope as the coach in waiting. But deep down, Tiller wasn’t ready to retire and wanted to work through 2009, and Hope wasn’t his first choice to succeed him.

Burke had seen the fruits of his Gene Keady to Matt Painter coach-in-waiting transition work in men’s basketball and hoped it would work out in football. It didn’t. Hope was fired after four years as Ross-Ade Stadium attendance began to erode. The saddest person in the Kissel Center where the press conference was held was defensive coordinator Brock Spack, who had been passed over for the head coach position because Burke preferred a coach with head coaching experience. I will never forget Spack, ever the team player, putting on a brave face while discussing the transition.

For Hazell, it was about the hat

Darrell Hazell won the press conference back in December 2012. He was polished, perfectly dressed and on message throughout.Hazell was as emotional as we would see him during any point in his three-and-a-half year Purdue tenure when explaining how challenging it was to leave Kent State, so much so that Burke allowed him to coach the Flashes in their bowl game in early January (something that never happens now!).

He went out of his way to get a ball cap out and crinkle it a certain way. It became his signature in his early days, as did losing. In a search that was focused on Cincinnati’s Butch Jones from the jump, folks were generally positive when Hazell was hired. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out at all.

Brohm’s Family Ties Were Evident

Much like the Barry Odom hire, Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski was focused on hiring Jeff Brohm. And despite a rocky last 24 hours in the negotiations, Brohm decided Purdue was the place for him despite options including Cincinnati and remaining at Western Kentucky. It was viewed as a huge win for the Purdue program because of the decimated status of Purdue football when he took over.

I remember Bobinski, in his first coaching hire at Purdue, stressing the family nature and that Purdue was getting the entire Brohm package. Before long, brothers Greg (operations), Brian (quarterbacks), dad Oscar (mentor) and even son Brady were in tow. In fact, the press conference date was Brady’s 12th birthday and I remember walking from the Shively Pavilion, where the press conference was held, through the old south end zone patio with the Brohm family as we were trying to get a cover photo of the new coach for our next glossy issue. It didn’t take long to find out that the new coach wasn’t in to photo shoots, but we secured the image.

Walters looked the part, too

Just under two years ago, coach Ryan Walters took center stage and there was little remarkable about the introduction to the Boilermakers’ 36-year-old coach. Walters wasn’t on GoldandBlack.com’s radar when the search began, and it took a lot of work to figure out where Bobinski and company were headed with the hire. And we never really did.

One last note, Purdue has hired 12 coaches since Jack Mollenkopf became the head coach in 1956. Eight of the dozen were either dismissed or retired before they likely would have been let go. The four that left on their own accord were Mollenkopf, Young, Tiller and Brohm–though Tiller wasn’t ready to go as noted above. Personnel and finding the right person is tricky, and it has been discussed in every corner about how much is riding on improving the hiring success rate.

MORE: Gold and Black Radio: Odom hired | Photo gallery: Odom press conference| Five observations from Odom’s press conference | Can Purdue flip any 2025 UNLV signees? | Purdue hires Odom | Get to know Odom | Three thoughts from the weekend| Q&A with Las Vegas AP writer | Purdue signing day notebook | Purdue 2025 schedule | What do Odom’s stats mean?