Burke: Hazell to remain Purdue football coach next year
By KEITH CARRELL
ISL Correspondent
Darrell Hazell will remain at the helm of Purdue football for the 2016 season.
That is the message that Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke, made on BTN Live Thursday evening.
Burke rarely speaks publicly mid-season about the future of a coach, generally opting to defer all questions or conversation until after the regular season and a full evaluation have been completed. The timing of this statement likely speaks to one of two things: either Burke is receiving enormous pressure to jettison Hazell or the athletics department felt the uncertainty of the coach’s future directly led to the de-commitment of two recruits (Collin Miller and Nate Johnson) who had verbally pledged to attend Purdue in 2016. Regardless of the reasons behind making this statement and making it mid-season, the decision has been made and delivered to fans like salt on a wound.
Here is Burke’s appearance on BTN Live:
Burke made his commitment when hiring Hazell by including a large buyout in the contract through the first four years ($6.7 million after three seasons, $4.6 million after four seasons) of the six-year deal. That buyout would be extremely hard for Burke to justify paying financially, even with the low attendance at games and diminishing number of season ticket holders. Burke reaffirmed his reasons for the length and conditions of the contract Thursday evening by stating that “when we hired (Hazell) in 2013, we recognized this was not going to be an easy undertaking. That’s why we gave him a six-year agreement.” (Link to story from when he was hired, and why it is important to invest in him.)
While the expected challenges were apparent, the results on the field this season have been horrid as with the first two years of Hazell’s tenure. A tough 2015 schedule, with schools like Marshall, Virginia Tech, and Bowling Green in non-conference, was going to make a bowl game an understandable long shot and most prognosticators had the team finishing with a losing record. Where the team has truly disappointed, though, is in how it is losing and how little growth the current roster appears to be experiencing. Losses are occurring by large margins (losing by an average of 18 so far this season), with a lack of fundamentals (opponents breaking tackles seemingly every play or multiple times per play and the team repeatedly lining up with only 10 players on the field), and with offensive game plans that seem destined for failure.
There also appears to be little growth from the players on the roster to indicate that progress truly is being made with tackles continuing to be missed, passes continuing to be dropped, ball security continuing to be a challenge, and quarterbacks continuing to be pressured. That’s not to say there aren’t bright spots on the roster with players like Markell Jones, Danny Anthrop, Frankie Williams, and Ja’Whaun Bentley constantly impressing or with the in-game decisions such as Hazell being much better at time management with situational football than Danny Hope, the prior head coach. Those limited bright spots, which are overshadowed by the stark disappointments are likely what prompted Burke to state that “despite the losses and inconsistent play, progress is being made.”
So Hazell will remain for 2016 and the next question is, will the entire staff remain or will Burke and Hazell recognize the lack of results demands some changes be made by supplanting one or both of their coordinators, offensive coordinator John Shoop or defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, who have also been on the figurative hot seat this season, especially Shoop for his befuddling game plans and constant churn at quarterback. However, there is a sliver of hope for those eternal optimists as some precedence exists for turning a disappointing first three years of rebuilding a college program into years of success; Mike Krzyzewski was also on the hot seat after his first three seasons as head coach of Duke basketball with a losing record (45%, 38-47) and has since led the team to five national titles.
Rebuilding takes time, but patience is running thin among fans, and time is money… $6.7 million to be precise.
