The Joe Tiller era is over in West Lafayette, as Purdue football hopes to rebuild this spring. New head coach Danny Hope will take the reins after serving as Tiller’s associate head coach last season. Hope has been an assistant in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Purdue. He served as an offensive coordinator at Louisville before becoming a head coach at Eastern Kentucky. He coached the Colonels until he returned to Purdue last season.

Hope will have some big shoes to fill. Although Tiller’s later seasons were lackluster, his overall career was one of the best in Purdue history. He leaves as the school’s all-time winningest coach with 87 career wins from him. He led the Boilermakers to 10 bowl appearances in 12 seasons. Before his arrival, Purdue had only been to 5 bowl games in its entire history. But with eight seasons having passed since his last conference title, fans and school administrators grew impatient with Tiller. During his last three seasons, he had posted a mediocre record of 20-19.

Purdue will have their hands full this season. Their non-conference schedule includes games against Oregon and Notre Dame. The quirky Big Ten schedule didn’t give Purdue any breaks this season. They face Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. The only conference-ranked team they managed to avoid is Penn State.

All of this isn’t comforting news coming off a 4-8 season, including 2-6 in the Big Ten. However, the Boilermakers are just one season away from their last winning record and bowl appearance. Purdue won the Motor City Bowl in 2007 and lost the Champs Sports Bowl the year before.

Dominating spring practices this season will be the competition for the starting quarterback job. Fighting are Justin Siller and Joey Elliot. Siller is a 6’4″ sophomore from Detroit. Elliot is a 6’2″ senior from Evansville, IN. Siller threw for 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in limited action last season. Elliot saw even less playing time, completing just 5 of 10 completions.

Both players realize the importance of playing quarterback at Purdue. The NFL has had many successful Purdue signal callers playing on Sundays. Former Boilermaker QBs currently playing in the NFL include Drew Brees and Kyle Orton. Hall of Famers Len Dawson and Bob Griese played for Purdue. Other former NFL stars include Gary Danielson and Jim Everett.

One of the big challenges Hope will face will be ramping up recruiting. The Boilers have ranked at or near the bottom of the Big Ten for the past several seasons in recruiting. The class of 2009 ranks last in the Big Ten. In order to rebuild, Purdue must retake Indiana State and prevent Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State from attracting top recruits.

Don’t look for a big change this season for the Boilermakers. New head coach Danny Hope has his hands full and will need time to recruit new talent. He will also need the help of his athletic director to put together a less challenging non-conference schedule. In the meantime, Purdue football fans will have to be patient. A victory over Indiana in the Old Oaken Bucket game may be one of the few things to celebrate in 2009.