The memories flow quickly for Matt Pike, as he recollects his career in West Lafayette.

He arrived at Purdue amid great fanfare from Huntington, Ind., (same hometown as Dan Quayle, his Purdue bio bragged) as part of Jim Colletto’s first recruiting class in 1991. According to that same bio in the Purdue football media guide, Pike was the No. 21 player overall and the No. 3 quarterback on Tom Lemming’s All-Midwest Team, matriculating out of Huntington North High. Pike also was preseason prep All-American by Street & Smith’s.

Pike threw for 2,273 yards and 12 touchdowns at Purdue, hitting 46.3 percent of his passes (145-of-337). His best season was in 1993 as a junior, when Pike complete 51 percent of his attempts for 997 yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Pike enjoyed a lengthy career in arena football playing in several indoor leagues. After playing several seasons, Pike got into coaching, including in the women’s Legends Football League which began as the Lingerie Football League and is now called the Extreme Football League. Today, he lives in Chicago with his wife—a former LFL player—and works in administration for UPS with plans to move to Fort Wayne, Ind., soon.

GoldandBlack.com caught up with the 47-year-old Pike.

GoldandBlack.com: How did you wind up at Purdue?

Pike: I was recruited at first by Coach (Fred) Akers and Coach (Fred) Jackson. Fred Akers and the run-and-shoot. I would come to games, see campus. Met (Purdue athletic administrator) Tanya Foster. I was pretty highly recruited, one of the top five quarterbacks in the country. I just kind of waited and waited to see where I could get in and start early. Being confident, I thought I could play as a freshman. Being from Indiana, (Purdue) just felt like home. I just wanted to play. I didn’t want to sit. But, I wish I would have sat my freshman year, in hindsight.

GoldandBlack.com: What was the highlight of your career?

Pike: The Cal win (41-14) was big for the program (in 1992), beating that ranked team (No. 17) to open the season. That was great. Huge win. Going to Cal as a freshman (1991) for my first year was cool.

GoldandBlack.com: You had some injury issues at Purdue, right?

Pike: I hurt my shoulder a couple times, at Indiana my freshman year and against Wisconsin my junior year. Going into my junior year, a lot of people didn’t know my mom got sick. I had some things going on internally that I never dealt with or talked about with the coaches. I probably should have.

GoldandBlack.com: How often do you go back to campus?

Pike: I don’t get back as often as I would like. I try to make it to the spring game. Play some golf and see some of the guys.

GoldandBlack.com: Talk about your Arena League career.

Pike: I played for Coach (Jeff) Brohm. He was my coach in Louisville. I know those guys. Brian Brohm was in high school then. And I coached at Chris Barclay’s high school, Louisville Male. I know Chris and Brian and the Brohm family.

The Arena League was great. I ran into an agent who got me some tryouts. I played in Tampa, bounced around. And I played in the Arena2 League. Billy Dicken is the one who got me in the Arena2 League. I was in the Quad Cities. I also worked in the front office in sales and marketing for Quad Cities. I ended up playing about nine years in the Arena League. I even worked in Alaska for a team in the front office there.

GoldandBlack.com: What was it like to play for Coach Brohm?

Pike: It was great. He was new to the game, but you could see his creative mind, his offensive mind. We did some things no one else was doing even in that league. It was a lot of fun. Great guy. Grateful to play for him.

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GoldandBlack.com: What are some things you've done since leaving Purdue?

Pike: In 2013, I moved home and was training with AWP, Athletes With Purpose, in Fort Wayne. I was training kids. Worked with some talent … Austin Mack, Jaylon Smith, Tyler Eifert, Drue Tranquill. I was there a couple years and then moved to Chicago and coached for an arena team and worked in the front office and coached kids. I also coached in the LFL, the girl’s league. One of my former coaches was the head coach and he asked me to work with his quarterbacks. It was great. We were filming a reality show. Lots of fun. We didn’t make much money, but it wasn’t about that. It was about football.

GoldandBlack.com: Who do you stay in touch with from Purdue?

Pike: A lot of guys. Corey (Rogers). Rick Trefzger. We have a bit of a text thread we communicate with. Mike Alstott is on there. Scott Green. All different eras. Vinny Sutherland is on there. James Maciag, Brian Goehl. Terry Samuel, too. Coach (Tim) Salem. And Facebook makes it easy to stay in touch with people, too.

GoldandBlack.com: Are you married? Kids?

Pike: I got married in October. We don’t have any kids, but we have a puppy. I actually met my wife in the LFL. She was a player for another team. We will move back to the Fort Wayne area soon. I work in administration with UPS now. It has been crazy busy for us during the pandemic. Grateful for that. I go to the stores to make sure things are running smoothly.

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