Names here, names there, is it all a smokescreen?
I am convinced that no one truly knows anything going on other than Mike Bobinski and maybe Tiffani Grimes… Maybe.
You can track social media, the dozens of sites that are saying names, and flight aware, it is just impossible to truly know.
The Ryan Walters hire came out of left field, to the point that no one even knew he was a true candidate, and names were thrown around with confidence during that cycle too.
The highly anticipated, Hot Board 2.0 is here for your viewing pleasure and this time, it is after reading many, many websites of who they believe could be top candidates, the most reputable source seems to be FootballScoop.com who put out a plethora of information over the Purdue Job.
- Chuck Martin – Head Coach, Miami (OH)
The first thing people LOVE to point out with Chuck Martin is that he has a career 64-66 record. I think that is unfair to look at, Chuck is a winner, plain and simple. At Grand Valley State, he had a career record of 74-7.
Then he was hired to Miami (OH), where he took on a rebuilding project. Of his 66 losses there, 19 came in the first two years when he was rebuilding a roster from scratch, that is roughly 29% of his overall losses coming in the first two seasons.
Since then, he has a career record of 59-47. This season, the offense of Miami (OH) is not lighting the world on fire, only scoring 25 points per game (95th), but their defense is solid, allowing just over 17 PPG, (12th)
He will lead the Redhawks this Saturday against Ohio in the MAc Championship.
- Tyson Helton – Head Coach, Western Kentucky
Helton was allegedly the runner-up to Ryan Walters during the 2022 Cycle, with rumors that Mike Bobinski wanted him, but was overruled by others interviewing candidates. Well, now, he has an opportunity to rectify that poor choice from 2022.
Helton has served as the WKU coach since 2019, when Mike Sanford Jr was fired, who replaced Jeff Brohm when Brohm departed for Purdue.
Since 2021, he has one of the top offenses in the country, averaging over 30 points per game each season up until this year, where he has been using a walk-on quarterback as the starter, as his transfer portal QB went down with an injury.
This year he has an offense averaging 26.7 points per game, but in 2021, with explosive Quarterback, Bailey Zappe, he averaged over 40 points per game. This season he has been more balanced with his offense, nearly averaging 32 passes per game and 31 rushing attempts per game.
In previous years, it generally has been closer to 60% passing in comparison to 40% rushing attempts.
- Jeff Monken – Head Coach, Army
Football Scoop stated that Monken has serious interest in the job, how would this workout? His cousin is the OC for the Ravens and once was at Georgia, there is belief that Todd Monken was someone that Bobinski wanted during the 2022 cycle.
I would love the flexbone in West Lafayette, but likely, he would diversify from a true flexbone and look more like a spread option offense.
How would the timeline be to hire Monken? The Army-Navy Game is next Saturday, would he leave the program and miss that? Perhaps. The Monken name carries a lot of weight in the Midwest and he would be fine recruiting, regardless of what people say.
The hardest place to recruit in the country is Army, undersized athletes, has to have a perfect GPA, he would be just fine.
- Mark Stoops – Head Coach, Kentucky
Stoops wins games, and it seems as if things have become stale in Lexington. His name has been mentioned across several websites, but I am not sure he wants to leave UK and his $9 Millon Dollars per year salary, which he would not get at Purdue.
Stoops will probably make UK force him out before leaving to cash in as long as he possibly can, but he is an established winner.
- Jeff Traylor – Head Coach, UTSA
After a long high school career, Jeff Traylor made his way into College Football in 2014. His ties are deep in Texas. Born, raised and worked his entire professional career there. Would he make a jump north?
Maybe.
His ties to Texas are attractive in terms of recruiting. UTSA has averaged over 32 points a game this year in a 6-6 season. This season was the lowest total wins during his time at UTSA, coming off 12-2, 11-3 and 9-4 seasons.
It is hard to think that he would leave the state, but maybe he is willing to listen.