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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 6

Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 6 13 THE HILL GROUP CHICAGO ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION hillgrp.com We're Illinois' largest mechanical contractor, and we're proud to have 37 outstanding Purdue alumni on our HVAC / Plumbing team. Warren Hill, ME '63 Jim Hill, MET '95, MBA '03 Jim Billard, LA '90 Brian Teyema, ME '87 Scott Dierking, IM '77 Russ Nelson, BCM '00 David Pikey, PH '97 Rhonda Orange, BS '03, MBA '07 Bill Silfies, MBA '03 Nick Muscolino, MET '06 Matthew Crawford, MET '05 Bob Hill, BCM '06 Anthony Camasta, MET '04 Deborah Toth, MET '07 Daniel Block, ME '08 Daniel Gasser, BS '04 Jason Jones, MET '08 Nick Johnson, BCM '09 Bryan O'Neill, BCM '09 Steven Sitkowski, BCM '10 Isaac Townsend, ME '10 Don Wunderlich, ME '13 Taylor Spaulding, ME '12 Jessica James, BS '13 Robert C. Krier, MET '13 Joseph Ketcik, CE '13 Joseph Schraffenberger, ME'13 Michael Rish, BCM '13 Bill Shuck, MET '14 Brandon Goldstein, ME '14 Jared Schreiber, MET '14 Jason Leitchy, BCM '12 Dan Schmidt, BCM '04 Nicole Chabot, IT & ID '05 Grant Fillipitch, MET '12 Chaz Usher, BCM '17 Josh Grant, ME '17 The Hill Group served as mechanical contractor for renovation of the historic (1893) 240,000 SF Chicago Athletic Association building. Hill self- performed the process piping and sheet metal work as well as equipment start up, and testing and balancing. G&B_Glossy2015_HillGrp_final_rev 1/21/16 8:59 PM Page 1 doesn't feel like the 2016 season is an audition. He says he, his staff, his players, want to win regardless. "You want to do so well because you want to do so well," Hazell said. The passion has yet to produce results, though. In the last three seasons, Purdue has only three vic- tories against non-FCS opponents (Illinois, Nebraska, Western Michigan), is 2-22 in Big Ten play and has lost three in a row to rival Indiana for the first time since los- ing four straight from 1944-1947. In front of dwindling crowds at Ross-Ade Stadium in that span, the Boilermak- ers are 5-16. On the road or at neutral fields, they've lost 13 of 14 games. Purdue consistently has finished at the bottom of the Big Ten in key categories, including scoring defense, to- tal defense, run defense, scoring, total offense and run offense. It hasn't protected the quarterback well enough and hasn't gotten to the opposing one often enough. Those are reasons — and the six wins in 36 games, of course — why this season is so pivotal for the program. Tangible, real improvement must be made. Though it's clear locker room chemistry, player ownership, a culture of work, an emphasis on academics and other tough- er-to-measure areas are better than they've been, play- ers and coaches say, there is one result that matters. They all know it. They all speak of it. The players use terms like "frustrated," "fed up," "ri- diculous." But they also use terms like "hungry," "driven," "ready." And that is where the focus is heading into a new season. A season that, even with those potential clouds hang- ing over it, is one of promise. Because it's unlike one Purdue has had since Year 1 of Hazell's tenure. There's hope with new coordinators, Terry Malone and Ross Els. There's hope with a whopping four more new coach- es on staff, as turnover — some self-imposed, some not — ravaged the group at the end of last season. But out of

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