Purdue notes and recruiting

In this week’s edition of Gold and Black Express, below are some of the latest happenings on the Purdue team and recruiting.

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

Purdue’s backcourt stands to be loaded for years to come as Savage makes it three years running it landed a high-end point guard. First, Omer Mayer, then Luke Ertel and now Savage, barring any surprises. This is in large part the Braden Smith effect, but it bears mentioning, too, that even before Smith, Carsen Edwards and Jaden Ivey made Purdue cool for guards, the Final Four was a big deal, and P.J. Thompson is really getting a great rep as a point guard and offensive coach, and he’s been shot out of a cannon as a recruiter. It’s not a competition, inside the basketball office, but he’s been the lead guy on most of Purdue’s commitments the past two classes, all but Luke Ertel if we’re remembering right.

Anyway, the July evaluation periods start next week.

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING​

Things are starting to quiet down on the recruiting front for Purdue football after a busy and successful June for Barry Odom and company, so not much new information coming to light at the moment.

The Boilermakers have just two key targets remaining, for the time being, with three-star Shadow Creek (Texas) wide receiver Aden Starling and Upperman (Tenn.) three-star tight end Colton Johnson.

Our read is that Purdue is in the top two and four respectively for each, with Arkansas being the other top player for Starling, while North Carolina, Florida State, and Indiana are all still vying for Johnson’s services.

Those decisions are expected to come down any time now and Purdue is in the mix to land what would be its 17th and 18th pledges in the class.

PURDUE AD SEARCH​

There is no real news here, as Purdue to our knowledge has yet to even form a search committee.

As has been reported in trade pubs, it has retained search firm DHR International to assist with the search. Whether DHR is involved in the presidential search, too, we don’t know, but if there’s a 2-for-1 coupon out there, Purdue should grab the scissors. DHR was involved in Mike Bobinski’s hiring and those of Jeff Brohm and Ryan Walters, as well as some other department positions.

But this figures to be a Trustees-led search. Mike Berghoff led the last search, and though he’s retired from the Board, may be brought into the loop to consult, at minimum, if willing. It is unlikely that he assumes the A.D. position himself. Trustee Mike Klipsch has been the board’s athletics liaison since 2015, but has also recently taken the reins as chairman for Purdue Global’s board, so whether his role with the West Lafayette campus’ athletic realm might change, we don’t know. No indication of that, though.

To be clear: This will be the permanent hire. No interim deal, despite Purdue not having a university president in place. How involved Mitch Daniels might be in the A.D. search, we also don’t know, but he’s only going to be around as long as he’s needed.

As for candidates, again, you have to have an active search before you can have candidates, but so any name you see thrown out there is just conjecture, but we can connect some dots.

• Deputy AD and COO Ken Halpin — men’s basketball’s sport admin — should get a long look and would get a favorable review from a guy who ought to have a voice here, Matt Painter.
• Loyola Marymount AD Craig Pintens interviewed with Purdue for its deputy AD-type position years back when he was senior associate AD at Oregon, heavily involved in marketing, revenue generation, etc. That job went to Jason Butikofer, who’s now at UConn after a stint at Washington. Whether Pintens was offered the job and turned it depends on who you believe.
• Greg Christopher: The long-time Xavier AD ran the JPC at Purdue years ago and has some football background from his time as AD at Bowling Green during a pretty solid era they had under Gregg Brandon. X basketball coach Richard Pitino just testified under oath that his program will have $14 million to spend on its roster this coming season, which speaks to fund-raising success because Xavier doesn’t have football money. No idea if Christopher would be looking to move again, but his connections in West Lafayette, again, are deep.
• Josh Whitman: Illinois’ AD is a West Lafayette native, but this would almost certainly be a no on his end. He has a great gig at Illinois, has done a great job, seems pretty insulated from incessant State of Illinois budget drama and serves as a remind that it doesn’t matter what the résumé looks like. Illinois hired him from Washington University. (staff)