Time for Boilermakers to Look at Change in Athletic Leadership

Hours before undefeated Indiana laid waste to Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 9, Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski proved he doesn’t have a finger on the pulse of the Boilermaker fan base.

During a rare meeting with reporters from outlets including the Indianapolis Star, Lafayette Journal & Courier and GoldandBlack.com, Bobinski was asked how Indiana’s success the past two seasons affects Purdue.

“If it was happening at any place other than Indiana it would not be what it is,” Bobinski said on a video recording posted by GoldandBlack.com on YouTube. “Is it a pill to swallow? Sure, it is. There’s a part of me that says the opportunity is there. We have to capture it in a way that makes sense for Purdue.”

Translation: Making sense for Purdue means spending as little money as possible.

Let’s flash back to June and Bobinski’s statement just after the House Settlement was approved by a federal judge. The heading “Revenue Sharing Cap: A Level Playing Field for Purdue” tells you how naïve at best he was about the changing landscape of college athletics.

“While the financial pressures are real, the revenue sharing cap presents Purdue with a unique and timely opportunity. In this new environment, all participating Division I institutions will operate with the same overall maximum limit on direct payments to student-athletes. This cap is intended to level the playing field in the highly competitive world of talent acquisition, ensuring that resource disparities between schools are minimized and that Purdue—through strategic resource allocation, innovation, and donor support—can recruit, develop and compete directly with the nation’s top programs.”

Nonsense then. Nonsense now.

Bobinski admitted during the media session that he no longer felt the need for Purdue’s NIL Collective, Boilermaker Alliance, with the revenue sharing rules. Purdue does fund the maximum amount of revenue sharing: $20.5 million. He also disclosed receiving pushback from alumni who did not want to financially support any NIL endeavors.

“We didn’t believe collectives, in our particular circumstance, would serve a valuable purpose,” Bobinski said. “It was a particular difficult sell to the Purdue donor base to provide funds to the collective. It was not a rousing fundraising success. The decision was made to bring it in-house, and we’re in as good a place as we hope to be right now. As we work through what’s realistic that can be from an NIL perspective that can pass through the clearinghouse and be approved, we feel like we’ve got a solid plan.

Unless, of course, schools don’t report the NIL offers, no different than people cheating on their income tax. But don’t tell that to a university whose officials apparently believe in the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus.

Purdue officials will tell you smugly that “we do things the right way.” The honorable way includes funneling millions donated annually to the John Purdue Club to pay for tuition, room, board and academic support for more than 500 student-athletes. It’s time to look at new ways to spend that money.

Bobinski scoffs at numerous media reports detailing millions in NIL promised to athletes, including the reported $2 million received by Indiana’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

“You can’t promise NIL by the terms of the settlement,” Bobinski said. “Nobody can promise. That’s one of the noises out there where people say ‘they promised me this much NIL.’ Institutions cannot do that. Now, third parties could do that. Those dollars still have to be cycled through the system. They have to meet the test of the clearinghouse. It has to be a reasonable range of compensation.”

Questioned by my former Journal & Courier colleague Mike Carmin that maybe dismantling the Boilermaker Alliance was not a good idea, Bobinski elaborated.

“The collective was asking for philanthropic support … to then be recycled into athletic support. The way NIL is working these days is more about corporate support. You’ve got to get business entities that are willing to participate with your athletes. We’re relying heavily on Purdue Sports Properties and the relationships they have with the corporate community. That’s been productive and will continue to be productive for us.”

The new in-house office in charge of helping athletes secure NIL offers is called Boiler BrandWorks. Do a Google search for Boiler BrandWorks. What you’ll find on Page 1 are news stories about the creation of the in-house office – including a skeptical column by yours truly. Nothing linked to the official Purdue site until the top of page 2. Click on the link “Boiler Brandworks Directory” and you’ll find another link on the front page, “Boiler BrandWorks NIL Home.” Guess what happens when you click on that link? “404 Page Not Found.”

That pretty much sums up the past two football seasons: 0-18 in Big Ten play and a 3-21 overall record.

It’s no coincidence that the only two programs that are a source of pride for Purdue fans – men’s basketball and volleyball – are headed by two men not hired by Bobinski: Matt Painter and Dave Shondell.

Bobinski and his assistant in charge of football, Tiffani Grimes, were caught flat-footed by two incidents. The first was not being prepared for Jeff Brohm to leave for Louisville despite the hints he dropped during a May 2022 speech in his hometown.

After talking about why he turned down Louisville in 2018, Brohm’s next remarks should have set off alarms inside Mackey Arena. “But obviously now we’re on year six. I love this town, this area. I’m an alumnus of Louisville. So anything can happen in the future.”

The future turned out to be nearly seven months later. Guess who wasn’t on Bobinski’s list of potential replacements for Brohm? Curt Cignetti, coming off an 8-3 season and a Sun Belt Conference division title at James Madison. Apparently Bobinski and Grimes didn’t “Google” Cignetti because all he does is wins.

Someday that lack of homework may rival Red Mackey’s botching the attempt to bring John Wooden home to coach Purdue basketball in 1950. Instead, Purdue got a nice guy in former Wooden teammate Ray Eddy. Eddy didn’t win a Big Ten title in his 15-year tenure and most of his teams were not competitive in the conference.

Instead of Cignetti or anyone possessing head coaching experience, Purdue chose Ryan Walters in the midst of the changing landscape of college sports. Purdue still has not bought into Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) nor is it making a serious effort to raise funds like Indiana and 99 percent of its peers.

Last week, Indiana alumnus and former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a substantial donation toward purchasing future football players. This technically is against the rules laid down by the House Settlement, but again Indiana and 99 percent of its peers think NIL stands for “Now It’s Legal.” The NCAA has lost more court cases than Donald Trump, and the College Sports Commission – set up to approve NIL offers to athletes – has shown no signs it will enforce anything.

Since 1942, Purdue has had four full-time athletic directors: Mackey, George King, Morgan Burke and Bobinski.

It’s time for No. 5 to be brought into West Lafayette.

Someone who won’t accept the argument “we’ve always done things this way.” Someone who brings out of the box ideas and the foresight to anticipate the next seismic shift in college sports while putting Purdue legitimately on equal footing with Indiana and its Big Ten peers.

If the status quo remains, don’t be surprised when the current TV contract runs out at the end of the 2029-30 season if Purdue is asked to leave the conference it founded in 1896 or at best see its current equal share of revenue slashed to appease Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and USC.

Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.