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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 63 f some hits. This is not the first experi- ence they've been in when things are going tough. But I don't want them to ever feel that we don't appreciate the efforts. They work really hard. All the groups worked hard, but we don't have much to show for it." Q: So you think the rebuilding is on schedule? Burke: "Yeah, I do. I guess I do. But I'm like that school over there that says, 'The bottom line is the bottom line.' You can't sit here and say, 'Take some kind of satisfaction that the statistics are better.' You're 3-9. That's not a good re- cord. So it depends on how you want to look at it. I kind of side with the people over here, but I also accept the people who want to look at the inputs to say those inputs are better, the output is eventually going to get there. You're both right. I know what we don't have — that is people when it's third-and-six to make a play. People when it's third-and-10 on defense to make a stop. We didn't have enough of that. We had some. But not enough. Until you do that and disrupt the games as we have in the past … you've got to do it. Somebody has got to make the key plays at the key times and we're just not there yet." Q: It's a win-now society. Do you have to ask people to be patient because it takes time to build a football program? Burke: "People don't have a lot of patience. I don't have a lot of patience quite frankly. I think people think because I can be rather stoic when I'm inter- viewed, (they) don't realize how my wick gets lit. If you've seen (me) in a game, you'd understand that. I think this roster is better and deeper than it's been. It's not there yet. We don't have the playmakers. … "I can't reverse what the world expects. All we can do is be very steady at the helm, not panic, not over-react and be honest and objective where things are short, fix them. But where things are good, be willing internally within in the family, to say, 'Hey, you're on the right path in this particular area, stay there.' "… There's pieces there but we still don't make the plays at the times you need to make a play to cause the game to swing in your favor, and we've got to do that or you're not going to have the success you want." Q: The Big Ten sent a release that said seven schools were among the top 20 in attendance. How do you advocate for having more fans and at the same time make improvements to the sta- dium? Are you going to fundraise or go to the stu- dents and say, 'We need to do more for you?' Burke: "It's probably a bit of everything. … I'm not going to advocate people come to the stadium just be- cause it's the stadium. We've got to produce. C'mon. There's no magic pill. You've got to produce. That's the world we live in. I'd rather spend our effort and ener- gy on trying to reward the loyalty of our fan base. Be creative in terms of what others have done and what we can do to enhance the experience, that'll get you a little margin. But at the end of the day, keep your energy focused on building the infrastructure and sup- port for the program. Football needs to be successful at Purdue. It goes back 100 years. You go back to 1896 and the president of Purdue James Smart was talking about the need to get the football program going. … (Presidents) understand it's more than football, it's about the pride in the institution. Nationally this sport gets the most notoriety, so you've got to produce. You can't be mediocre. "Your question about how do you get a big project like (the south end zone) going? You've got to see the fan base which way do they look at it. Are they looking at it, 'I'm from Missouri, don't do anything until we improve' or are you saying, 'This could be transforma-