The always-talented and subtly-hilarious Mike Carmin of the Lafayette J&C has this gem regarding Coach Hope's "master plan" (if ever something deserved to be in quotation marks, it's that) and how it's, well, still in progress.

It starts off with another classic Dannyism, which sounds made up but isn't:

Has Danny Hope had enough time to get Purdue’s program to where he wants it? Asked that question Sunday, the fourth-year coach said, “no in some regards, but yes in some ways.”

So....sort of?

I think it's fair to assume it's not exactly where he wants it, as the Boilers are still searching for an over-.500 regular season under Coach Hope. But the question is whether he's had enough time, so the answer is even more vague. You either have had enough and think four years (plus a year as associate head coach under Tiller, which shouldn't be overlooked -- that allowed him a head start on recruiting for his tenure) is enough to get a program where it should be. I think most of us would argue the program is perilously close to being in a worse place than it's been in years.

“Where we were at when I came here and where we’re at now, we made a lot of progress but it takes time,” Hope said. “We really haven’t had time to cash in on some of our efforts in some ways. We’re just now getting some things in place that will impact the program that I wish had been in place many years ago or several years ago.”

What the what? Many years ago... or several years ago. You know, sometimes four weeks feels like a month, know what I'm saying? No? Neither do I.

And what efforts haven't been cashed in? What does that even mean? You haven't had time to cash in on your efforts in some ways.... just dizzying.

But in the end, Coach Hope thinks he hasn't had enough time because arguably the best coach in the history of the program left things a mess for him:

Ultimately, Hope said he’s “not really” had enough time.“Coming in, we were a long ways away in about every phase of the program and we’ve made some progress,” Hope said. “We’re still a long ways away in a lot of key areas and it’s going to take more than three or four years to turn around several years of maybe going in the wrong direction.”

So things were going in the wrong direction before he took over. I don't want to debate this too much, because we, too, felt things were no longer on a proper course under Coach Tiller. HOWEVER... blaming your predecessor for your failings when you've had four years (plus that associate HC year) to make things better is a little bit... desperate.

There is no longer room for debate in our opinion on this fact: the Purdue football program is not on course for success. Whether that's because the previous regime (that went to ten bowls in twelve years) screwed things up so irreversibly or that this group hasn't had enough time yet, I don't know for sure. What I do know is that if Purdue wins Saturday against the Hoosiers, there will likely be another bowl on Coach Hope's resume and he'll be talking successful season. If others in power agree with him, then there will be no longer any doubt that mediocrity is acceptable and will be the apex of Purdue football success for the foreseeable future.