Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/232716
But if they stay on that cycle of plan, do, check, act, they'll get there. But I'm telling you, if you start twisting dials, you'll screw this thing up and it'll be messed up for a long, long time. People who have been involved in turnaround situations will understand that. In college athletics, particularly in the sport of football, there's no quick fix. Unless you're going to do something that's off the reservation in terms of the rules. That's not Purdue, and that's not something we're going to do. So you have to stay on course. "The talent and the roster that you had today is what you had. I think Darrell was honest when he said like he felt like he could win with the kids in that locker room. Certainly, he's going to put his strongest spin on it publicly. How else can you coach and motivate people? You can't come out and say, 'They're not good enough.' So I think we have a capable leader in Darrell, but he and I both know the jury is out until you produce results. "The staff, I think they've seen positive changes in many but not all facets of the program, these positive things aren't readily apparent to the fans who are watching the game. That's frustrating for people, and I understand that." Gold and Black: What do you take as positives out of the season? Burke: "After coming out of the Indiana game, it's hard. It's hard for all of our fans because we've gone through this emotional roller coaster of being excited and then being disappointed. I think the preparation, the way they're teaching the kids, the way the kids are respond- f ing. When I go into meetings and I look at the eye contact, I don't see the heads down. It's hard to keep kids pumped up when you're going through a season like this. I think they practiced hard. I thought, as I meet the kids and I deal with them, you get the eye contact. It's a lot of little things that, again, people say, 'I want to see it on the field.' Well, I do, too. But great teams are made up of great character. "You have to look for kids like that. I think he's got a bunch of them. We've got to get some kids with a little bit of swagger. But it can't be swagger in an unruly sense. It's got to be an heir of confidence that comes from having had a level of success. Having some kids in the program who have been part of championship teams is maybe more important than that individual skill set. Coaches always use that term, blinded by talent. I think you have to be careful in this case because we, right now, need kids who have a real passion to be part of creating something special in the future. "It's little day-to-day things, showing attention to detail, that later will manifest itself both in the classroom and in competition." Q: How did you hold up during the season? Burke: "I've been through this before. I draw from experience of having gone through this with changing organizations. I knew last year that this was an average team. We were a .500 program for what, the last five, six, seven years? That's not bad. But that's not where we want to go. … Would I have liked to have been a little better? Sure, it's not fun to get up every Sunday, I went in every Sunday to watch film. I've never done that since I've been here. I didn't do that other than to show (Hazell) that I was going to invest my own personal time to be supportive. I enjoyed watching it with him. … "We didn't have the easiest set of cards to play this year. But that's the Big Ten. That's who you have to compete against, and we've done it in the past. I know we can do it. But I'm not going to do it just to be average. If we're going to invest this level of resources and this level of energy, it's a commitment that needs to be from the board of trustees on down to me, to the coach, to every single player, to every single fan, we've all got to say we're all in. … "So I held up. I'm fine." Gold and Black: What's the selling point to get fans to games in 2014? Burke: "If you really want this football program to go to Pasadena, we've all got a responsibility. It starts from board of trustees to me to Darrell to the players to the fans. I know they're there. There were 61,000 at Notre Dame. I know they're disappointed. But I also found it interesting how many people came back and were supportive, (saying) 'We think this is the right guy.' The people who are from quote Missouri are going to say, 'Show me.' But if you do that, then what you do is create a downward spiral, and I don't think that's what people want. "We're not going to do anything crazy with ticket prices. I really appreciate the people who did the legacy fund. That was a huge, huge IllustrateD volume 24, issue 3 25