The only redeeming part of rooting for a perennial loser is that you can always retain the belief that the next coach will be the one who finally turns it around. No matter how bad things have gotten, no matter how many losing seasons in a row have been strung together, there’s always hope for the hapless in college football because history shows us that no program is beyond saving.
But just as Vanderbilt had its James Franklin or Rutgers once upon a time had its Greg Schiano, the turnaround story will end sooner or later. Wins in college football, and particularly unexpected wins, lead to opportunities that cannot be turned down. The only question is how long a program can ride the wave of hope before the tide of reality washes over the shore.
That’s why the next few weeks won’t be particularly fun for fans of Purdue. Before Sunday, they reasonably could have hoped that the hardest part — actually finding the miracle worker who could reverse a decade of losing — was behind them when they hired Jeff Brohm.
Instead, just two years later, they’re going to have to confront the very realistic possibility of finding another one.
For Purdue, an inexplicable 41-10 loss to Minnesota on Saturday wasn’t the worst news of the weekend. Instead, it came Sunday when Louisville fired Bobby Petrino, signaling an intent to throw everything it has at bringing Brohm back to his hometown, back to the program where he both played and coached as an assistant.
Source: Read Full Article