B1G 2016 // Purdue Potluck III: New Coke

We've already had an appetizer and a side this week, but we forgot about the drink!

DRINK - New Coke

photo by Jetijonez from wikipedia.org

In honor of the new coordinators for Purdue this season, let's drink some New Coke. Like New Coke, the new OC is new. I'm not sure how much the rest of this analogy holds up, since people liked Old Coke, but no one liked the old OC. It remains to be seen if people hate the new OC as much as they did New Coke. I would guess not, but time will tell.

The Questions

So at the end of last season, John Shoop, the terrible Offensive Coordinator, was finally given the heave ho. If you want a good laugh, please read this article where a friend of Shoop tries to explain that Purdue's offense wasn't bad enough to fire the OC. The best quote is this "The Boilermakers scored 36, 38 and 55 points in games this season...(The 55-point game, which resulted in one of Purdue's two wins this season, was against Nebraska.)" Haha Nebraska, you let Purdue score 55 points. Haha.

Anyway, the new Offensive Coordinator is Terry Malone, who held that same position at Michigan from 2001-2005 and was the TE coach for the Saints before taking the Purdue job. It seems like turning around the Purdue offense is a monumental task, although the bar set by Shoop is so low that it may be impossible for Malone not to clear it.

Do you think replacing John Shoop with Terry Malone will make much of a difference? Will Malone be able to turn the offense into something that Purdue fans aren't ashamed of? Or does it not matter who the OC is, will Purdue struggle on offense as long as Hazell is the Head Coach?

StewMonkey13
It takes a LONG time to get that stink off, I'm a Bears fan, I know. Plus it's not like you're all of a sudden replacing the Purdue players with OSU's players. Bad is bad, and Purdue is bad. The offense may be noticeably better, and hey that may get Purdue to 4 wins. Good luck with that.

Candystripes for Breakfast
Offense is easy to fix. Just keep recruiting strong armed QBs, and let them air the ball out. That worked for us, so I assume literally every other school in the country is at least semi-capable of making it happen.

Jesse Collins
I answered this before! But no, I'm with my esteemed colleagues. I just don't see this fixing the long term problems. At least this year. Purdue has consistently been awful on offense and the recruiting has been sketchy at best. There are potential opportunities for improvements, but improving on awful is just not easy. I like Malone well enough and I think he has some legitimate enough credentials, but this year is going to probably be bad. And screw you guys. Our QB turned the ball over like 20 times inside our half of the ball. What do you expect to happen?

WhiteSpeedReceiver
No. No. No.

Creighton M
Just to be safe, Purdue better take Greg Davis.

GoForThree
Sure, let's pretend Hazell+Shoop was the problem. All Purdue had to do was fire one and hope the other doesn't touch anything.

LincolnParkWildcat
I'm sad that John Shoop isn't still stinking up West Lafayette /ducks beer bottles thrown from Babaoreally.
As a Bears fan, that man gave me nightmares.
I'm guessing that Malone will bring in a pro-style offense based on his tenure at Michigan, and Markell Jones will run the ball a lot, which should partially mask subpar passing behind a crap offensive line.

MNWildcat
Did you know Terry Malone got a history degree from Holy Cross, where he played tight end all four years? I didn't!

Aaron Yorke
They say the best coaches can win with even inferior talent, but there's not a lot of evidence of this at the highest levels of football. Usually the good coaches attract talent first and then start winning games, which is why it's so absurd that so many programs are so impatient with coaches. No, there is not a good chance that we'll see an instant improvement with Purdue's offense, but if Malone is allowed to build something, the future may be different.

87Townie
Yes, it will make a difference...let's just hope it kicks in right away. At Penn State, we saw how quickly a terrible OC can ruin an offense and quarterback pretty quickly. If you disagree, go watch Gruden's QB show on Hack. Going in the other direction, if the pieces are there, should work better. In his defense, I never thought Purdue's offense was the problem. You guys scored points in bunches...but your defense. Ugh...

babaoreally
I think the offense will be different because of the new guy. It will most likely fail to produce points and first downs on a weekly basis, but I think the team will run different plays while still not doing well.

Thomas Speth
I'm pretty sure the 2011 Wisconsin team outscored Purdue for this entire decade, and no amount of changing offensive coordinators will change that. Maybe invest some of the sweet Big Ten money in your athletic program.

Andrew Kraszewski
Insert platitude about relative values of Xs, Os, Jimmys, and Joes here. Pin the shortcomings of this offense on the old OC if you want, but the buck always stops with the head man sooner or later (who hired those unsuccessful coordinators, after all?) and now there's no one left to take the bullets for Hazell, who is supposed to be an offensively oriented guy himself. Better pull something out of the hat quick, Coach.

B1G 2016: PURDUE WEEK

MONDAY | Cocktail Party Preview | Potluck I

TUESDAY | Personnel Files | Potluck II

WEDNESDAY | Traditions | Potluck III

THURSDAY | Wildcard | Potluck IV

FRIDAY | H8rade | Potluck V