Obviously the big news in the Purdue world is the retirement of Mike Bobinski so it’s time to look back at his tenure. I emailed the staff over the weekend to get their takes on his time at Purdue. So here we go.
Jed:
I’d give Bobinski a solid D+. The Brohm hire was a home run but he really set the entire athletic department behind with the absolute worst hire for football in B1G history. Following up the hire of Brohm with someone like Walters is just inexcusable, especially considering they could
have easily hired Troy Helton (WKU) and rumors still swirl that an agent for Cignetti reached out to let Purdue know of his interest.
Continuing to give Katie Geralds extensions when she is also arguably the worst coach in program history is also bad. Yes, it is always hard to see your program legends but be successful but Geralds keeps falling further and further away from the NCAAT. For a program who had made 26 of 29 NCAAT’s to now having only gone to 1 in the last 9 seasons is pathetic. A program that once used to be near the lead the country in attendance marks seems to be unable to get more than 1,500 at times.
Bobinski doesn’t they credit for the success of CMP or Shondell given those two found success under more challenging conditions under Burke. The other sports, although we like to see them succeed, don’t move the needle for a department’s success whether they are good or bad.
Overall, Bobinski just didn’t do much to move the needle in the ways he stated he would. Ross Ade, even with its renovation, still lacks appeal and lags behind some basic amenities. He also failed to capitalize on the early Wild, Wild West of NIL to push the program forward and instead say on his hands with the thought that once everyone plays by the same rules it will help Purdue. Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon and once again Purdue is playing catch up while IU has taken incredible steps forward winning a national championship in football. Brohm making a B1G Championship game is the only thing that saves Bobo from an F.
Travis:
It is very hard to say. he did some very good things. He hired Jeff Brohm and Purdue football was actually semi-competent. He then hired Ryan Walters and it utterly destroyed the program, made worse by the fact that Curt Cignetti was available. If Bobinski picks up the phone can calls Cignetti in December 2022 does he come to West Lafayette and set up something at least close to what is going on down in Bloomington? It is certainly possible, and Purdue football is unquestionably in a much better spot right now if it can nab Cignetti coming off of an appearance in the Big Ten title game a year before he went to Indiana.
There are others hits and misses. He hit on Mark Wasikowski for baseball, as he got Purdue to the NCAA Tournament before jumping to Oregon. He missed on what looked like a solid hire at the time with Katie Gearlds. Maggie Frezzotti looks like a solid pickup for softball and Richard Moodie has done well for women’s soccer, but Purdue’s two most successful coaches, Dave Shondell and Matt Painter, were brought in by his predecessor. As a result, I don’t think Bobinski gets a ton of credit for either since they have been around a long time and their programs are basically self-sustaining.
I think ultimately he will get judged on football, because that is what pays the bills. Brohm resurrected the program, then Walters dropped it right back to a Hazellian level with no end in sight. I have to give him a C- for that, with his improvement of the Olympic sports helping a little.
Dammit, why didn’t he call Cignetti in December 2022?
Casey:
B- it’s a hard report card because it’s just so uneven. Purdue making a final four carries probably a full letter grade. It would have been easy to panic or not leave Painter’s program entirely alone but he deserves credit for doing so. Also there was a lot of work done to get Purdue’s facilities to a place where they can compete.
That said, the women’s program and football have been rough. He helped bring Purdue into the new age but there’s been just as many big misses as hits. The Walter’s hiring alone will always overshadow his legacy.
Ledman:
Look, obviously we know the good, hiring Jeff Brohm, getting to the Final Four for the first time in decades and the bad, Ryan Walters and the ongoing women’s basketball debacle. But how do you find the balance between those two? I mean Brohm was without a doubt the most successful Purdue football coach since Joe Tiller. And Bobinski hired him. Now, he “let” him get away to Louisville but I’m not sure there’s anything he could’ve done to keep him. Now, could the buyout for him going to Louisville have been more advantageous for the Boilermakers? Absolutely. Putting that aside. As others said, it’s easy to not give Bobinski credit for the Final Four run, but he did preside over it. Sure, he didn’t hire Painter but he apparently gave Painter what he needed to get the job done and that has to count for something. The Ryan Walters hire was an absolute misfire. There’s no way to get around it. It matters a lot because of how far the program sank after such highs, but also how important football is to any athletic department. If you’re looking at a grade book at the end of the year football has to make up about 50-60% of the final grade.
That’s where my problem comes in. I don’t yet know how to grade the Barry Odom hire. Yes, the first season was tough, but the schedule was outrageous and the cupboard was bare. Odom seems to be doing a decent job right now on the recruiting trail but what will that translate into? Weighing all of that together I think I’ve landed on a C+ for Bobinski with a chance to raise that grade by the end of his tenure if Odom begins a turnaround of Purdue football. He had the guts to fire Walters after two years which means he sort of? limited the damage to the program so there’s a hope that Odom can pull Purdue out of their tailspin. So I’ll stick with the C+ and give Bobinski the opportunity to turn in his work at the end of the calendar year for a reevaluation.
