Interview by Michael Pointer
Indianapolis Star
April 5, 2006

Question: Are there any factors driving the changeover in
your staff that have surprised you?

Joe Tiller: We've had a series of first-year head coaches
in the NFL. In past years, when a guy became a head coach
in the NFL, you knew what his staff was going to be. Now,
they get these jobs, they have to go out and find these
guys.

Q: So you do think some of these changes are being driven
by factors outside your control?

A: Yes. It's a domino effect, really. It's like the guy
that left Michigan State for the NFL and (former Purdue
quarterbacks coach) Blaine Bennett is going to go up there
to replace him.

Q: Is that why offensive coordinator Jim Chaney left to
become an assistant offensive line coach with the St. Louis
Rams?

A: He got a two-year contract. (Purdue typically offers
assistant coaches one-year contracts.) I asked him, "How do
you like the NFL?" He said, "I watch film and I evaluate
players. It really isn't much different than what I did at
Purdue except I don't have to go out and recruit."

Q: How do you view the staff changes?

A: Let me diplomatically say that some of these changes are
good for us. I didn't anticipate five changes, but I
thought if we had two or three, that would be fine. It
would be good for us to get some new faces and new energy.

Q: What is your take on why some of the guys left?

A: Bob [DeBesse, the wide receivers coach who accepted a
similar position at Texas A&M] wanted to go back to Texas
because he and his wife are from Texas.

[Defensive end coach Tony Samuel, who left to be the head
coach at Division I-AA Southeast Missouri State], I didn't
understand that one. If you want to be a head coach, I
guess you ought to go be one. But they haven't had a
winning season in a long time and their program is
underfunded.
I did understand DeBesse and Chaney. Jim knew he wasn't
going to get the head coaching job here.

Q: Does that mean (longtime defensive coordinator) Brock
Spack will be the head coach at Purdue someday?

A: Not necessarily. Jim wasn't going to be the head coach
here. It's a shame, but sometimes, people can be too
familiar with you. They look to the outside for somebody
else. That happened to me in Calgary (in the Canadian
Football League, where Tiller worked from 1974-82, but was
never the full-time head coach). I was there for nine years
and I shouldn't have stayed for nine years.

Q: Why did you decide to remove running backs coach David
Mitchell?

A: Let me put it this way: I didn't discourage him. He
started asking what his future is here and I told him, "You
ought to explore." It was a mutual deal. It was kind of the
end of the line.

Q: Does this spring take on added importance because the
new coaches need to get used to working together?

A: I think that will be a key, but we stuck by our basic
philosophy in hiring guys. The first quality we look for is
someone who will blend in and not cause any ripples, be a
good contributor, that we know enough about them that they
won't do that. I really like the new hires to date.

Q: What has this offseason been like after a disappointing
season?

A: Better than I thought. People are very supportive. I
think also with the passage of time, they tend to forget
about the season and remember the good things.
Overwhelmingly, the response has been, "Hey coach, we'll
get it right back to where we were before." It looks to me
like you're back to being Purdue again.

Q: You've been around football for nearly 40 years. So what
did you take from last season (that) you hope helps you
this season?

A: Some things that I knew and I'm disappointed in myself
in. You can't coach and not be your own personality. I did
that.

Q: What do you mean by that?

A: If that confrontation between me and (strong safety
Bernard) Pollard that occurred in August had happened at
some other time, he would not be on the team. I would have
kicked him off, and I didn't. (Tiller instead suspended
Pollard for three days.)

The reason I didn't is because we were supposed to have
this great defense. We just had some really selfish guys on
our team and I kept thinking, "I'm going to change a little
bit. I'm not going to be that old, hard-nosed,
not-be-flexible coach. Maybe I need to adjust a little bit.
Two-thousand-and-five is a little different than 1995."
I learned that's wrong. That's not me. I'm not going to
deal with that stuff again from a coach or a player. No
one.

Q: Do you think you've rectified the problems with this
group?

A: Yes.

Q: Why do you say that?

A: We've got a couple of guys out of the program. Some we
held the door for, a couple got eliminated. We may not be
done because I'm not going to deal with that. If someone
steps across the line, we may miss them when they're gone,
but they'll be gone.

Q: So in the spring, is the most important thing to let
guys know that, "Guys, what happened last year here is
unacceptable?"

A: They already know that during the winter conditioning.
It really starts in the winter.

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