GBI Magazine

f r o m e d i t o r b r i a n n e u b e r t Tricky Business A s Darrell Hazell looks to raise Purdue's football program a peg and Matt Painter aims to prevent his basketball program from slipping a rung, one thing is clear: To reach their goals, they must recruit their way there. Of course, that's obvious. So much goes into winning in college football and college basketball, but at this level in particular, recruiting is success' most basic component. Take a great coach with average players and put him against an average coach with great players, and the latter probably wins nine times out of 10, if not more. You know this and so, obviously, do Purdue's two highest-profile coaches, each of whom will have their own challenges moving forward. For Hazell, it's about taking a roster recruited for speed, with certain intangible liberties having been taken, and incorporating as much toughness, physicality and passion as can be found. To do that, the coach and his staff must reconnect with their base. Four years of recruiting the Southeast above all else has left Purdue's brand diminished where it should be strongest, on its home turf. The challenge now is to rebuild bridges burned, Introducing ... GoldandBlack.com mobile App For the Android and iPhone at the Android Market and App Store not an overnight task, but one Hazell and Co. hope to pull off in short order. In Painter's case, a disappointing season with a roster that was so obviously flawed shined a light on the importance of simply getting not just players but players. Purdue was talented enough to win more games than it did this season, but most of its difference-making players were freshmen, a good thing long term, not such a great thing short term. Multiple recruiting classes yielded little, including a 2009 class from which only D.J. Byrd was left standing when all was said and done and a two-man 2011 class from which Jacob Lawson has now departed and only Donnie Hale remains. Help is on the way, as Purdue's 2013 class is on par with its talented 2012 signees that showed so much promise this season, even while losing. But what's important now is that Purdue shore up immediate help for next season's team this spring — easier said than done — then sign strong 2014-andon classes to maintain consistency. And in so doing, avoid some of the pitfalls and circumstance that put Purdue in this situation in the first place. Recruiting is really stupid, quite honestly. This month, football coaches traveled from high school to high school to look at players they couldn't even speak to, even if they were standing inches apart. Meanwhile, basketball coaches traversed the U.S. in a 72-hour window to sit on hard metal bleachers watching AAU games. Yes, there is some evaluation being done, but more so, these highly accomplished men are there to perform a role generally reserved for mannequins: Just be there and be seen. It's pretty silly and getting sillier. Purdue's missed out on a bunch of high-profile basketball recruits in recent seasons, almost all of which came with their own funny little story for when I write my book from my deathbed. Almost all of them involve some sort of third party, usually a person of influence who's done very little to Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 5com

• Cover