BOT chairperson Berghoff talks athletics

Purdue Board of Trustees chairperson Mike Berghoff admits that the last 90 days have been a whirlwind in his leadership role at the university. Berghoff, who has been integrally involved with athletics since he joined the Board in 2009, and his colleagues have experienced transitions everywhere: University president, football coach, and of course, all the changes going on in college athletics.

“It’s been one of the busiest streaks of consecutive days since I have been involved at Purdue,” said Berghoff, who said he kicked into high gear in December with the transition of Mitch Daniels to Mung Chiang and the coaching search process. “It’s all been very good stuff, and we have it much better at Purdue than many of our peers (in terms of the ability to deal with transition effectively.).”

Finding new Purdue football coach Ryan Walters

Berghoff credits Purdue athletics director Mike Bobinski, and his skill for finding talent in making the process of hiring Ryan Walters as smooth as possible. Berghoff interviewed the handful of finalists after Bobinski and the athletic staff had vetted about 15 coaches. So what impressed Berghoff the most when he sat at the interview table with Ryan Walters joined by Bobinski and deputy athletics director Tiffini Grimes at the Mount Comfort Airport in Hancock County just east of Indianapolis?

“What impressed me most is his level of preparation,” Berghoff said. “During the interview, he told his life story, which got my attention. Most everybody’s heard about his parents being 16 years old when they had Ryan and how they managed to not only raise Ryan and have good careers. It’s a story that fits with (being a) Boilermakers.”

But much more than that left an indelible mark on Berghoff.

“I thought his Power 5 experience was important, and he was promoted at each stop,” Berghoff said. “He was so organized. He showed us an organizational chart which was pretty comprehensive, and had a backup in every box.”

Berghoff admitted that Walters, who has since announced his staff, didn’t hire every coach on his top line, but the fact he was ready with alternative options was significant.

“I love that we have a coach is his first big-time head coaching job,” Berghoff said. “That’s also the thing I didn’t like about it. Because it’s risky. But here’s a guy who’s hungry and ready to go, and he made an incredible impression on me.

“He strikes a nice balance between being very knowledgeable, but he can also explain his process in a way that everybody understands. That’s a tremendous skill to have if you’re leading a group of 100 young men and a big staff.”

From Mitch to Mung

Berghoff is confident that the strong support for Purdue athletics will not be any less from new Purdue president Mung Chiang, who took over for Mitch Daniels on Jan. 1. Berghoff admires Chiang’s competitiveness in every aspect of university life, including athletics.

“He is a Chinese American, and his history has taken such a unique route to Purdue, so he doesn’t know much about sports, be he knows one thing: if you are going to participate, you want to be the best. He cares about winning, and being the best at everything.

“There are some things that he’s already deferred to the board and members of the board and deferred to me because he knows that we know what’s required. He says, ‘I’m going to be supportive; if it enhances the university’s reputation, and it (an initiative) gets us to the spot where it’s the best way, let’s go for it.’

Berghoff said that Chiang’s commitment to athletics made an early impression when the new president invited all Purdue’s coaches to Chiang’s Westwood home last week. It was the first time in Berghoff’s 14-year board tenure that had happened.

“People are going to see just how committed he can be and that is why I have no concerns (regarding Chiang’s commitment to athletics) moving forward,” Berghoff said.

NIL, The Portal and Purdue hoops

Berghoff, a Purdue graduate and former walk-on linebacker for coach Leon Burtnett in the 1980s, is enjoying the run of coach Matt Painter’s team, and is impressed by how the Boilermaker coach is always looking for better ways to do things.

“It wasn’t too long ago (2013-14 seasons) where we had a couple of bumpy years,” Berghoff said. “But then we treated it as we should, as temporary. We didn’t go off the rails then because we knew we had outstanding leadership.

“We are going to go to the Final Four and we are going to win a national championship with this guy. That is what is going to happen.”

In the NIL and transfer portal world, Berghoff knows that change is the new constant.

“It’s a lot to deal with, especially when you add in that we will have a new league commissioner too,” said Berghoff, who was quick to praise the work of the Jeff McKean’s team with the Boilermaker Alliance, Purdue’s collective. “We want to be clear that the Board completely supports our student-athletes pertaining to NIL. And we view it as a tool our coaches can use to their advantage.“

Berghoff hopes Purdue’s strong brand not only with athletics but campus-wide, will help with the new day.

“Ideally, we will find the lane (with NIL) that benefits the student-athletes in a way that they should be benefited but doesn’t doesn’t get in the way of the primary purpose of them getting an education and competing at the highest level for championships and winning some championships.”

He was also quick to praise the work of Jeff McKean and the Boilermaker Alliance.

There is nothing not complex about the transfer portal, but Berghoff offers a straight-forward strategy.

“I think the thing we need to focus on is just making it painfully hard to leave our place,” Berghoff said. “We need to create such an opportunity for our student-athletes; there’s no way they would go elsewhere.”

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