Mike Bobinski Delivers Collective Pep Talk

This morning Mike Bobinski held court for the media for the first time since officially taking over as the new Purdue athletic director last week. There were no grand, sweeping changes announced, but there were plenty of spots where “the right things were said” at least. I know many Purdue fans feel as I do: we’re tired of talk and platitudes. We want to see results. It looks like Bobinski does as well:

You and me both, Mike. We are coming off of the lowest attended opener since the 50s, which is really sad considering some of the openers I have been to in my life. The potential is there though. It is Bobinski’s job to get those lots and stands full.

It has been a long point of contention around here that Purdue still has fewer overall Big Ten Championships than the University of Chicago. They still have a 73-71 edge, but hopefully that will end soon. the facilities are in place thanks to Burke. Now it is time to improve the performance.

I know Painter wants to and the fans want to, but Purdue has had the worst historical luck in the postseason when it comes to any major conference basketball program. the regular season success is there and has always been there. It is hard to remember, however, when the final 5 minutes of regulation against Little Rock completely tainted the previous four and a half months.

Also, let’s ask our neighbors to the south how much the postseason matters. Purdue and Indiana are pretty much dead even historically when it comes to regular season success, but who is the “college basketball blueblood” and “National power” in the eyes of the country? Only March Matters.

This is a very interesting note because Purdue’s non-conference schedules have taken a beating in many years. We know we’re going to get an exempt tournament every year that gives us some decent games, plus the ACC/B1G Challenge and Crossroads Classic. That’s five tests, but as we have often seen, Purdue needs to be virtually perfect to earn anything above a 4 seed in March because of non-conference scheduling.

This makes a lot of sense because Notre Dame has good programs in virtually every sport, but they aren’t on the schedule a lot. At least the Crossroads Classic ended decades of nothingness when it comes to men’s basketball. Getting them back on for things like baseball is a great idea. In fact, the last few seasons Notre Dame and Indiana have played each other at Victory Field in Indianapolis. that would be a good midweek game for Purdue.

That’s really it, isn’t it? Purdue always comes close to that moment, but never seems to grab it. you can say that about almost every sport too. Baseball had its regional hosting and loss. Football had the Fumble. Basketball has Rob’s injury derailing 2010. We’ve been so close before. When/if said moment ever comes it is going to be even sweeter as a result.

That is the biggest difference so far between Bobinski and Burke. Burke set lofty goals like the 25/85 plan and such. there was never a set plan to get there, however. The structure behind them wasn’t in place. Bobinski can’t do this alone. He can’t kick the game-winning field goal or hit the game-winning three. I feel like under Burke there were too many “can’t” and “won’t” people behind the scenes for whatever reason. The first step is not tolerating that attitude. Period.

Consider me on board.