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FROM EDITOR BRIAN NEUBER T Saturday's going to even more interesting. Or Monday. You see, as you may Purdue hosting rival Indi- ana with the Bucket and a bowl on the line. But Sunday might be be interesting, with or may not be aware, Coach Danny Hope's grasp on his job is beyond tenuous. It's a fact not lost on him, his probability even — that this will be Hope' players, fans, local and national media, recruits, the rest of the Big Ten, etc. There' contract was reluctantly extended, giving him one last chance to en- trench himself for the long term. But in this season in which so much more was hoped for, nothing remaining that can be at- tained will be considered enough. Fair? Maybe, maybe not, depend- A year ago at this time, his s a very good chance — a s final season coaching Purdue. ing on your perspective. In college football coaching terms, three years is the new five. Hope's had four, plus a transi- tional year. END OF THE LINE? Has Purdue scored some big wins under Hope? It has. Is it poised to go to its second consecutive bowl game? It is. But, in football. It's not easy to win at this place, but it can be done and seasons in which the program merely benefits from an overpop- ulated bowl fray are ringing hol- low with fans. And when those fans are more than ever, Purdue has to aspire for more than break-even seasons at this point trickling out of your stadium like sand through an hourglass, more and more every year, oftentimes the coach ends up being collater- al damage in a greater issue than just wins and losses. That's not me making a case just an illustration for Hope, much exists that Purdue, if it's go- ing to fire Hope, will have to do it after a three-game winning streak, a Bucket win and the se- curing of a bowl bid. Awkward. You can just hear that next that there's more to it than just Purdue losing to all the good teams on its schedule and beat- ing all the bad ones. But in typical unsinkable Hope fashion, he's going to make this hard on Purdue. He's winning games on the way out. coach now in his interview: "So you'll fire me for going to bowl games?" At any rate, what's hap- pened the past few weeks has made this sticky, but is imma- terial to the greater issue, that in the season in which Hope himself said he had his best team at Purdue, the Boiler- makers were beaten soundly by nearly every quality Big Ten opponent on their sched- ule, before taking advantage of the back-loaded tail end to back into a bowl berth. A.D. Morgan Burke to pull the plug after any number of losses this season. Instead, he settled in to wait until the end of the season. There's no hurry, really, and imag- ine all the miserable possibilities you'd have had with a lame duck, and probably none too happy, outgoing coach riding out the season, or with an interim coach in his place. Now, the possibility very It would have been easy for a team that will be no pushover in this regular-season finale. IU couldn't stop a first-grader from crossing the street if it had an or- ange vest and a bright red octag- onal sign, but it can flat-out score. But it's what happens next The last domino is Indiana, is the weekend's real intrigue. Purdue will have to act quickly, whether it's to fire Hope or an- nounce he's staying. The verdict will probably not be a good one for Hope. we don't already. Purdue has done what it also did this time a year ago in putting out feelers, mobilizing to hire a new coach. In all likelihood, that's what its We should know very soon, if administrators will be doing while its players are preparing to play their final game of the season. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com DISCOVERY IS OUR MISSION FINDING A CURE IS OUR GOAL www.cancerresearch.purdue.edu GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 12 • 5