Gold and Black @ 30: Year 15--2004-05

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 | 2003-04

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.

I didn't think it was a good idea at first.

And it has taken 15 years, and maybe a little more maturity, for me to fully embrace it.

At the time, I wasn't a big fan Gene Keady's "victory lap" season of 2004-05. The program was on a decline, and I thought if it was time for Purdue to move on past Keady, then why prolong it?

And it was a painful season on the court. Purdue finished with its worst single-season record (7-21) in a half century, far from a becoming look to the legacy that Keady had built. Yes, recruiting made difficult by uncertainty of how long Keady was going to be at the helm at Purdue had wreaked havoc on the program. By the time the season came along, Purdue barely resembled Keady's teams of the past.

Athletic director Morgan Burke not only did the right thing by allowing Keady to stay another year, but it went a long way towards cementing his legacy.

After all, Keady has become the elder statesman of Purdue basketball. He is revered nationally, and it is cleaner to recognize he went out after a quarter century.

Burke and those around him understood, though it wasn't overly popular at the time, that it might pay dividends years later if the fan base had a chance to say a proper goodbye to the legendary coach who had won six Big Ten titles and stood up to and defeated IU's Bob Knight. Yes, Burke could have moved on after the Boilermakers were ousted in the NIT a year earlier when the season crashed and burned and ultimately ended with a loss at Notre Dame. But he used restraint, patience and even a little deference.

Initially, I don't think Keady was wild about having to be part of a succession plan, and not being allowed to coach until he was 80--which I am convinced he would have done. But Burke gave Keady a chance at a dignified exit, and also worked to bring in a young coach in Matt Painter that would keep the essence, if not the brand, of Keady-ball intact.

For me, it now makes sense. Maybe it is because I am 15 years older and I know that soon that day will come for me (not too soon, I hope.)

Purdue's basketball tradition under Keady and now Painter is buoyed with the reputation and practice of doing right by others and doing it the right way. Keady wasn't perfect in that vein during his 25 years, but that was usually his intent. And for Painter, he has carried on that tradition, in addition to winning at a rate comparable to Keady.

Brian Neubert has covered recruiting for us for 20-plus years. In the days before social media, I can remember him getting constantly interrupted by phone calls with prospects. Ahh, the life before Twitter and Instagram.

But I recall him working extra hard that year because of all the in-state talent. It was fun (at least for me as I didn't have to deal with it in real time) to watch the saga of recruiting a Selwyn Lymon or a J.B. Paxson or a Joey Elliott or a Jason Werner.

Lymon had his well documented problems as a Boilermaker, Paxson never made it to campus before choosing to play baseball (if memory serves) at Tennessee. Werner was a great person and had he not had numerous injuries might have been a star at Purdue.

I can remember Mark Hagan, the defensive line coach at the time who now is at Texas, wanting several copies (which the football staff paid for) of the issue. He loved "The Great State of Purdue" headline. After all, Hagan was an IU grad and standout player for the Hoosiers who at the time loved beating his alma mater on the recruiting trail.

As was the case just about every year we did one of the recruiting covers, it was the unsung guys who really contributed to the program. Evansville's Jared Zwilling and Joey Elliott were key contributors over the years, as was Merrillville's Mike Neal.

And if you know your Indiana geography, you can look at the state and figure out where they are pictured on the cover. And if you don't, shame on you!

I didn't want to show this Tom Campbell image, but I wouldn't be telling the story of our history if I ignored it. There isn't much to say about this cover, possibly being summed up as being one of the defining moments in the history of Purdue football.

Yes, quarterback Kyle Orton is an elbows-length from being down, all the while having his face-masked grabbed, (Tiller turned this Tom Campbell photo in to the Big Ten office the Monday after--to no avail). I hate the fact that this game, a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to Wisconsin, is remembered as the "Orton fumble," because Orton deserves so much more than that. And most Purdue fans know that it was hardly his fault, but still ...

It is a loss that Purdue fans will never totally get over. Things were never quite the same for Purdue football until coach Jeff Brohm arrived in 2017. And even now, Brohm and Company have work to do to get the program nationally ranked, let alone ranked fifth as the Boilermakers were on that cold October late afternoon in 2004 when ESPN College GameDay was on campus.

There's hope under Brohm and reason to believe that the pall, if not jinx, cast by that fumble will be erased by a Big Ten title down the road. The Tyler Trent Game and win over No. 2 Ohio State in 2018 provided much remedy but may not have totally erased it. Before there was Tyler Trent, the "Orton Fumble" remains the last nationally-relevant moment in Boilermaker gridiron history.

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