Year Four of the Jeff Brohm era is about to dawn.
No doubt, the fiery Brohm has raised the bar at Purdue since arriving for the 2017 season. He inherited a train wreck from Darrell Hazell, and Brohm has been able to get the program back on track.
Brohm led Purdue to bowls in each of his first two seasons before encountering a 4-8 hiccup in 2019 in what was a season ravaged by injury. Add it all up, and the 47-year-old Brohm is 17-21 overall at Purdue and 12-15 in the Big Ten.
The 2020 campaign is cloaked in unknowns as the sport tries to prepare amid a pandemic that threatens the season. This will be an interesting campaign for Brohm and Co., as Purdue and the rest of the Big Ten plays a conference-only slate of 10 games.
How should Brohm be judged?
Dating back to Jack Mollenkopf, only three of Purdue’s previous nine head coaches had a winning record in their fourth seasons: Mollenkopf in 1959, Jim Young in 1980 and Joe Tiller in 2000. Four were fired after their fourth season: Alex Agase, Fred Akers, Danny Hope and Hazell.
Let’s take a look at the fourth season for each of the last nine Purdue coaches. The only Boilermaker coach since Mollenkopf not to coach a fourth season was his successor: Bob DeMoss, who stepped down after going 13-18 in three seasons (1970-72).
Jack Mollenkopf, 1959: 5-2-2. “Jack the Ripper” was gaining steam on what would be an iconic 14-year career at Purdue. The Boilermakers went 5-2-2 (4-2-1 Big Ten) in 1959, finishing tied for third in the conference. If more than one Big Ten school was able to go bowling back then, Purdue surely would have gone. The Boilers opened with a 0-0 tie at No. 11 UCLA. The lone defeats were on the road vs. ranked teams: Ohio State and Michigan State. (The other tie was at Illinois.) Mollenkopf kept the mojo going in West Lafayette with a Rose Bowl win in the 1966 season and a Big Ten title in 1967. He remains the football coaching standard at Purdue.
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Alex Agase, 1976: 5-6. Despite coaching some talented rosters, Agase never could get the Boilermakers over the hump. His fourth and final season epitomized that. Purdue went 5-6 (4-4 Big Ten) to finish tied for third. Agase’s swan song was noteworthy for the Titanic 16-14 home win vs. No. 1 Michigan that made national headlines. But a winning record eluded Purdue when it lost at home to Indiana in the finale. Agase cleaned out his office with a 18-25-1 overall record (15-17 Big Ten).
Jim Young, 1980: 9-3. The no-nonsense Young had it rolling in his fourth season. Purdue was coming off a 10-win effort in 1979—the only time in school history that the program has notched double-figure victories. And the 1980 club opened the year ranked No. 9 and was poised for a Rose Bowl run. After a 1-2 start—losses at Notre Dame and vs. UCLA—the Boilermakers rolled. The lone defeat was at No. 11 Michigan in November which cost Purdue a trip to Pasadena. Purdue finished 9-3 (7-1 Big Ten) and No. 16 in the nation. Young would coach one more season before surprisingly stepping down.
Leon Burtnett, 1985: 5-6. The season dawned amid great expectations, as the Boilermakers were coming off a surprisingly successful run to a 7-5 record and Peach Bowl experience in 1984. Most of the key players were back in 1985—including QB Jim Everett, RBs Rodney Carter and Ray Wallace and CB Rod Woodson—fueling hopes for another bowl trip. But the season began with an ominous 31-30 loss at Pitt. Purdue went for a game-winning two-point conversion late in the contest … and failed. That set the tone for one of the most disappointing seasons in Boilermaker annals. A 35-17 demolition of Notre Dame at home was the highlight. With its bowl life hanging in the balance in the second-to-last game of the year, Purdue lost a 27-24 heartbreaker at home to No. 5 Iowa. The Boilers finished 5-6 (3-5 Big Ten) and wouldn’t go bowling again until Joe Tiller arrived in 1997.
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Fred Akers, 1990: 2-9. It was apparent the “Akers Experiment” wasn’t gonna work at Purdue by 1990. The former Texas coach seemed “too big” for the job. Heck, did he really even want it? Some had their doubts about Akers’ commitment. It showed during a dreary run that produced a 12-31-1 record (9-23 Big Ten). Fitting for Akers to culminate his tenure at Purdue with his worst season: 2-9 record (1-7 Big Ten). The wins? Vs. I-AA Indiana State and at Northwestern. How bad was it? The Boilermakers scored 14 or fewer points in eight of 11 games. A brutal punctuation to a brutal tenure.
Jim Colletto, 1994: 4-5-2. Purdue teased fans in 1994. Coming off a 1-10 season, Colletto crafted a 4-1 start. Was this a bowl team? Was Colletto gonna turn the corner? Nope. The Boilermakers promptly went a bizarre 0-4-2 the rest of the way to finish 4-5-2 (2-4-2 Big Ten). Record books say Purdue went 5-4-2, but that includes a forfeit by Michigan State. The fiery Colletto coached two more years in West Lafayette … and never did produce a bowl bid.
Joe Tiller, 2000: 8-4. This is one of the most golden seasons in school history. With senior QB Drew Brees leading the way, the Boilermakers finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten championship and earned the program’s first Rose Bowl bid since the 1966 season. Purdue’s season of great expectations teetered on the brink after a 3-2 start haunted by gut-punch losses at Notre Dame and at Penn State. But Brees rallied the Boilers to a 6-1 finish marked by a 4-0 run in October that included wins vs. No. 6 Michigan, at No. 17 Northwestern, at Wisconsin, and vs. No. 12 Ohio State. Purdue lost to Washington in the Rose Bowl to finish 8-4 (6-2 Big Ten) and No. 13 in the nation. Still, nothing can sully the glow of this season. Tiller would go on to coach eight more seasons.
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Danny Hope, 2012: 6-7. Even though he produced a bowl bid--his second in a row--Hope didn’t get to coach in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. He was fired by A.D. Morgan Burke after an Old Oaken Bucket win—Purdue’s third victory in a row to close the season and earn bowl eligibility with a 6-6 mark. Someone named Patrick Higgins coached Purdue in the bowl. But Hope was in Dallas to witness a 58-14 demolition by Oklahoma State that wasn’t even that close. The Boilers finished 6-7 (3-5 Big Ten). The job seemed too big for Hope, but there was no denying his work ethic and passion. Still, it was time to turn the page on a coach who went 22-27 at Purdue.
Darrell Hazell, 2016: 3-9. Many openly opined why Hazell was returning for a fourth season. The transitions of ADs from Morgan Burke to Mike Bobinski was a factor, as Bobinski didn’t take over until August 2016. The program had shown nary a modicum of progress in Hazell’s first three seasons. It was apparent to even the most casual Purdue fan that the Hazell hiring was a colossal mistake. But Hazell and his hat were on the sideline for the 2016 opener and he forged a 3-2 start … but Bobinski mercifully pulled the plug after a home loss to Iowa in the sixth game of the season. The damage? Hazell went 9-33 overall and 3-24 in the Big Ten. Woof. A 50-7 defeat at Maryland on Oct. 1 was a perfect encapsulation of how inept Purdue had become under Hazell. No use is rehashing the horrors of this 3-9 season (1-8 Big Ten) that was finished by interim head coach Gerard Parker.
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