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Purdue Football Coaching Changes: Mark D’Onofrio to Purdue?

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Purdue might have plucked a defensive coordinator from The U.

By Travis Miller
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Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

As you know, Purdue fired three coaches once the seasons ended. That means it needs to make three new hires. You can only have so many assistant coaches on staff, but you don't have to have them all for specific positions (for example: Purdue did not have a quarterbacks coach, and now it does). The Boilers got rid of both coordinators and a position coach in Rubin Carter on the defensive line. In the various hires already made there has been some shuffling:

John Shoop was fired as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach

Terry Malone went from Tight Ends to Offensive Coordinator and Tight Ends

Tim Lester was hired as Quarterbacks coach (essentially trading a TE coach for a QB coach)

Rubin Carter was fired as Defensive Line Coach

Randy Melvin was hired as Defensive Line Coach

Greg Hudson was fired as Defensive Coordinator

That leaves Purdue still looking for a defensive coordinator, and there are rumors that he, too, may be coming from Miami:

There has been considerable chatter that Mark D'Onofrio might wind up as the defensive coordinator at Purdue as well; but no confirmation on that just yet.

While I am excited for the return of Melvin because he had success at Purdue in the past, I am not encouraged at all by this. Since I am also a Miami fan by marriage I have seen quite a bit of the Hurricanes, and I want no part of D'Onofrio. In fact, many Canes fans will tell you that it was Al Golden's loyalty to D'Onofrio that led to his firing. Many said he should have been gone from The U last year, much like John Shoop from Purdue, but Golden held on to him.

This past season alone D'Onofrio's defenses blew a huge late lead against Nebraska, sending that game to overtime, and were barely speedbumps for Clemson and North Carolina in giving up a total of 117 points to those two schools. Yes, Clemson is No. 1 in the country, but still. They also could not get late stops to close out games at Cincinnati and Florida State.

Another troubling factor is that Miami led the country in penalty yards. Purdue is not going to get better with undisciplined play, and penalties on both sides of the ball absolutely killed the Hurricanes.

In terms of total defense the Canes gave up 28.8 points per game, 83rd nationally compared to Purdue's 36.5, which was 112th.  The run defense was awful at 210.5 yards per game, 107th nationally. By comparison, Purdue was 108th at 215.6 yards per game. Against the pass Miami was pretty good at 29th nationally, 196.3 yards per game. Purdue was 91st at 243.4.

The largest concern is that he put Purdue numbers up with Miami talent. Miami hasn't exactly walled off South Florida for the top recruits in recent years, but their recruiting is still consistently in the top 25 nationally every year. The lowest rated class he had to work with was 26th and his highest was 9th in 2012.

So... yeah.

UPDATE:

I don't think this is a good sign:

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