Gold and Black @ 30: Year 23--2012-13

Related links: Year 1: 1990-91 | Year 2: 1991-92 | Year 3: 1992-93 | Year 4: 1993-94 | Year 5: 1994-95 | Year 6: 1995-96 | Year 7: 1996-97 | Year 8: 1997-98 | Year 9: 1998-99 | Year 10: 1999-00 | Year 11: 2000-01 | Year 12: 2001-02 | Year 13: 2002-03 | Year 14: 2003-04 | Year 15: 2004-05 | Year 16: 2005-06 | Year 17: 2006-07 | Year 18: 2007-08 | Year 19: 2008-09 | Year 20: 2009-10 | Year 21: 2010-11 | Year 22: 2011-12

Gold and Black Illustrated is celebrating 30 years of publishing. Over the next few weeks, we will look at each publishing year, recalling the moments that took place in that particular year.

Note: Captions describing each cover are not available on mobile platforms.

Coaching searches are always fun. Of course, depending on how one defines the word "fun."

And when Danny Hope was fired the day after beating Indiana in a victory that allowed his team to qualify for the postseason, the search was on for his successor.

In his final days, I felt bad for Hope. He seemed surprised that this was all going down against him. Danny was a one-task-at-a-time kind of guy, always trying to focus on the next play or the next game. I can't imagine he was blindsided by Purdue's decision to move on, but maybe he was.

I also recall being in the press box for the Bucket Game in West Lafayette and everyone (media, certain Purdue personnel, and others) openly discussing the move that was going to be made the following day. It was no secret, at least to all of us who had seemingly known for weeks that Purdue was going to make a change after the season.

Yes, the optics of it all were made a bit more difficult for Purdue administrators when Purdue won its last three games of the year to reach bowl eligibility. I remember visible mixed emotions worn on the faces of Purdue administrators when Purdue's march to the postseason began with a walk-off 46-yard field goal by Paul Griggs at Iowa.

I also recall angst among certain members of the famed 2000 Purdue offensive line, who were very partial to their position coach at the time, Hope. It was hard for some of them to hear the news that Hope would be let go.

Purdue's plan was to go out and get Butch Jones from Cincinnati. And, unfortunately, that courtship lasted about 24 hours. Jones' secret trip to West Lafayette didn't turn out to be much of a secret, as the Journal & Courier's Mike Carmin greeted him and the party of Purdue hosts at the airport terminal with his phone camera running. For whatever reason, Jones and Purdue were not a match, as he interviewed at Colorado a couple days later and ended up taking the Tennessee job where he failed miserably.

It still is unclear to me whether the person that Purdue eventually chose, Darrell Hazell, was the second, third, fourth or fifth choice. I do know that Purdue officials were concerned with how the year before, Illinois fell into the abyss in its coaching search before landing on Toledo's Tim Beckman. He was an epic failure.

And I won't be a revisionist historian here. Hazell was impressive and won the opening press conference. There was a good deal of optimism among the fan base before the first game was played. Season ticket sales flourished as Hazell appeared to be everything that Hope wasn't. I am not sure that was fair, but Hazell's polished, three-piece-suit approach was in favor for a while in West Lafayette.

All years are memorable thanks to stories like the one above. Yet, on the court and field in football and men's basketball, it was one to forget. Matt Painter's team was 16-18 overall, finishing out of the postseason for the first time in seven seasons. And football struggled to the level that there needed to be a coaching change.

David Boudia.

And he is still going strong, hoping to make it to Tokyo next summer for the "2020" Olympics and adding to his medal total that now stands at five.

I remember there was some internal debate on our staff about putting Boudia on the cover. After all, we don't cover diving closely, and it seemed to some we were just jumping on the bandwagon of Purdue's first individual Gold medalist since the days of Ray Ewry.

But Boudia exemplifies the best in Purdue athletics from a character and competitive standpoint. He is in a unique class that seems to do just about everything right, and is beloved by the fan base for doing just that. He is an example of tireless, hard work making it possible for goals to be achieved.

At just about every turn, Boudia has something positive to say about his alma mater. That makes his relevance remain extremely important to Purdue University in addition to its athletics department.

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