http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20775508/wait-purdue-boilermakers-just-big-ten-most-entertaining-team
:idea: :arrow: I've watched their games. Purdue is dramatically improved and yes...they're fun to watch for the first time in a long time. Hang on to that coach!
Brohm was one of those coaches that I said you had to keep an eye on, he was very successful at W.Kentucky. Plus I think with your new ND educated Ath Dir making a commitment to the football program things are trending up. I doubt if they beat Mich today, but I won't be surprised if Purdue has a good season and gets to a bowl game. He and his family are legacies at Louisville so I expect he'll eventually end up there when Petrino is fired or retires. Petrino is only 56 so maybe that might be awhile.
Well, we weren't gonna win that one. 93 degrees and Michigan rotated their whole team in and out. We don't have that kind of depth. Some crappy calls and no-calls that killed our drives and gave life to theirs didn't help. Nor did two targeting calls in the second half that cost us two defensive leaders (and I'm not disputing those two calls). But the better team won.
Stu, I watched the game. I remain encouraged by Purdue's play despite the second half surge by Michigan. Like you said, Michigan's depth on a sweltering day was a huge factor. In my opinion it was the difference. Also, while I'm not a big fan of recruiting rankings, Michigan recruits more talented players than Purdue, and - It hurts to say this - under Harbaugh's staff, they're coached to their potential. I expect both the depth and talent gaps to narrow under Brohm, but it won't happen overnight. I'm pulling for Purdue to make it to a bowl game. Even 6-6 would be a gigantic step forward.
I see that Harbaugh is upset by the conditions in the Purdue visiting locker room. There is no AC! He had the team stay on the team bus with the AC running. So this has to have been going on for a long time, right? Just like Iowa painting their visitors locker room Pink. With the amount of money that Purdue gets from the BTN deal and other B1G money no reason why their visitors locker room shouldn't be good ...other than gamesmanship.
Their locker room toilets seemed a little antiquated but at least they did not have a squadron of Ohio German Shepards to greet us. I think there were complaints before, Terry. https://twitter.com/gerrydinardo/status/912369431325659137
So the suggestion I read is that when the Boilermakers come to Ann Arbor in the winter keep the heat just at the level needed to prevent the pipes from freezing, no hot water for the showers!
Here is the official statement from Purdue: Looks like Harbaugh failed to read or pay attention to the information provided to him and his staff before he launched his inappropriate tirade. Or maybe he was just grandstanding after the fact. What an ass.
Sid, each Big Ten team receives about 40 million dollars a year in revenue sharing. Not sure if Michigan should have anticipated in July that the Midwest would be hit with a record setting heat wave in late September. A portable air conditioner used in the summer for tented outdoor weddings probably would have done cooled the area and would have have cost 2-3K to use. Purdue's own locker room has AC and am at a loss why they would not have extended the same amenity to its visitors especially given that tempertures at field level were probably close to 100 degress. It probably would have been better if Harbaugh/Michigan registered their complaint internally to the B10 and it seems that this problem is not an isolated one in the Big 10: https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/kirk-herbstreit-sides-jim-harbaugh-calls-big-ten-locker-rooms-outdated-disturbing https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/purdue-locker-room-jim-harbaugh-big-ten But, given the tremendous amounts of revenue each conference member is generating by being a member, I don't think it would be overly burdensome for the conference to set locker room safety and comfort standards for visiting teams.
Bobda, everything you say makes sense. The fact is, he and his staff had the chance to make arrangements, most likely up to the last minute, yet they didn't, either because of incompetent planning or perhaps optimism that the temperature would drop. Who knows? What about his complaint about the medical facilities? Given the well-explained circumstances, was that called for? Your defense of your coach is admirable, but his history confirms that, while he's clearly an outstanding football coach, he's still an ass. You can take comfort by paraphrasing kp's favorite saying about Saban: He may be an ass, but he's our ass. :wink:
Seems like it's not really a Purdue problem, but a college football problem. Here's the rankings of B10 locker rooms by an anonymous assistant Here’s how it shook out: Illinois = pathetic Purdue = pathetic Maryland = pathetic Northwestern = pathetic Michigan State = pathetic Nebraska = OK Wisconsin = OK Iowa = OK Penn State = OK Michigan = below average Ohio State = below average Minnesota = nice He did call Harbaugh’s own visitor locker room “below average,” but that’s basically a compliment on this scale. The anonymous former Big Ten assistant did not include Rutgers or Indiana in his rankings.
Here's a link to the ND Visitors Locker room before the renovations. Might be in the pathetic or at very least below average category at least then... https://imgur.com/a/HbWsc This is the only picture I could find of the renovated visitors locker room. Looks much nicer. Note the AC vent!
One thing about Harbaugh, besides that he's clearly one of the top coaches in college football, is that he's not afraid to speak his mind or do things out of the box. The trips to Europe got him publicity, the camp tours got him publicity, the sleepovers with recruits however creepy got him publicity. He doesn't care if his image is that he's an odd duck or an asshole, as long as you know who he is. As long as he's winning that image will not wear on UM fans. Nice guys who lose wear on fans though!
What were the temporary accomadations? Are they able to convert a refrigerated semi-truck trailer that they use to haul ******* dairy cows into a locker room that you can stuff 100 players and coaches into? Toss a couple of porto johns against the side of the trailer and I guess we are good to go. Like I said before, Harbaugh would have been better served to complain internally and it certainly appears that diagnostic medical equipment was available near the stadium. But, Purdue recently spent 65 million to renovate their athletic facilities and receive 30-40 million a year from the Big Ten. They are one of the nation's best enginerring schools. One of their graduates was the first to land on the moon! Their football facilities for their players are pretty plush judged by the pictures one can see on their internet. My guess is that they probably can find a few bucks somewhere to convert their visitors loccer room from its present Bolivian prison motif to something fit for human habitation. Not asking for Italian leather sofas and an RECane sized flat sized TV. More that two toilets with the added luxury of doors, dumping the torn training tables, and spening a couple thousand for AC does not seem to be a demand of excessive entitlement. Gerry Faust looks like he used team busses as air conditioning also when visiting Purdue: https://books.google.com/books?id=DgZykRDnNboC&pg=PT151&lpg=PT151&dq=gerry+faust+purdue+locker+room&source=bl&ots=FzqXMhet2y&sig=FvvQDWlJoFPxFGPxaPVW-79tAp8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN6MX-h8PWAhXLwlQKHfaxBlgQ6AEIiwEwGQ#v=onepage&q=gerry%20faust%20purdue%20locker%20room&f=false His comments in the early 80s mention new facilities in the works. But Harbaugh thought the facilities looked the same as when he played there in the mid 80s.
The nice thing about this debate is that it's civil, respectful, facts are provided to support positions, and it's about visitors' locker rooms and not politics. The only fact I have to support my position is that Harbaugh is an ass. Other than that, I yield to my midwest brother, Bobda, with extra credit to Terry.