⚡ CFB Dashboard

I doubt I am alone on this board, but I personally knew Hazell and Walters were mistake hires and we were drawing dead within their first few games. I also knew very quickly that we hit the jackpot with Tiller and Brohm. Tiller brought creativity and innovation as well as a likable blue collar demeanor that fit Purdue like a glove. Brohm was pretty much the whole package of roll up your sleeves no excuses workaholic blue collar coach that you know was going to move the needle further along with each year he was at Purdue. I especially remember his barnstorming tour through Indianapolis where he changed to perception of Purdue Football almost overnight thinking he was exactly what we needed representing Purdue. Odom is currently sitting much closer to the Hazell Walters camp than Tiller/Brohm. The thing that I think will do him in at Purdue in short order is he hasn't won over the fanbase even a little. Tiller and Brohm could have had subpar performance on the field in their first 2 years and still survived because they were just plain likable to the average fan and you know they had a good plan that would eventually pay off. When Odom re-hired Kevin Kane, that to me signed his resignation letter and represented the ultimate poor judgement and middle finger to Purdue fans. This move, equalled in ignorance perhaps only by our athletic Directors' first day buffoonery, brought about high level concern and embarrassment to a Purdue fanbase wholly undeserving of either and already teetering on the fence of support. Right now I see Odom as a nice guy who probably never imagined himself as the arrogant and out of touch leader that Purdue fans are increasingly seeing him as. The biggest indicator of this to me is that Odom (and Kane himself) literally seemed upset in interviews that they are even being questioned about the decision to return to Purdue. If you really think about this one hiring decision in depth it tells you all you need to know about Odom and why I think he is doomed at Purdue following this season. Imagine if you are a manager in a company that decides to fill a critical role on your team with someone who failed at the exact same position just 2 years prior. And, not only did that person fail, he/she was seen as the worst to have ever done that job in the company's history being so terrible at the job that it causes all in the company to laugh when the name is brought up in conversation. We all know that person. When you decide to bring that person back, you are effectively saying you know more/better than everyone else in the room (in this case thousands of people in the room) and their opinions are all not only wrong but completely unjustified. Then, add the the fact that you are only in your first year or two on the job and you're already under review for poor performance before even making this hire. This kind of a move is a bold statement and completely unnecessary gamble of ultimate proportion. There were no doubt plenty of capable non-controversial hires standing in line for this job. Making that move is staking your future on this one hire because either that hire knocks it out of the park and you look like a genius or you just put your neck on the line almost before you got started. That is simply an unnecessary suicide gamble that shows it's now or never in his mind. Let's be honest, the chances of Purdue making a bowl game this year were slim with or without Kane. So Odom knew that the only way this hire would bring about fan support would be a 6-8 win season. Last week I put that at 5% odds and now it looks less that 1% as Wake Forest was a must win for realistic bowl hopes. Odom gambled completely unnecessarily putting almost his whole stack on 00 and losing it only 2 games into his second season. Foolish arrogance will rightfully be his Purdue legacy if Kane does anything other than perform at a very high level. And I absolutely hope I'm wrong about this as having a 6 win season would be well worth eating crow on a chat board.