The Purdue football program us on an off week this week.
It couldn’t have come at a better time, as the team is now mourning the loss of Boilermakers coaching legend Joe Tiller. After coaching 149 games in 11 years for the Boilermakers, Tiller set a number of school records that stand to this day.
Tiller coached several NFL greats, including future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, and is the winningest coach in the programs history.
The school announced that he’d passed away in Buffalo, Wyoming early on Saturday morning.
Remembering one of Purdue’s greatest coaches and an even better man. pic.twitter.com/hkUpcXKgwd
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) September 30, 2017
“Today is a very sad day for me and the entire Purdue family,” said Drew Brees, who played for Tiller from 1997 to 2000. “Coach Tiller was an important person in my life and to so many other guys who played for him. He did so much more than teach us how to win. He taught us life lessons and how to be great leaders and men”.
Purdue was an afterthought on the FBS landscape prior to his arrival on campus. His adoption of the spread offense and willingness to experiment on the field led to an increased average of seven wins per year, and 10 consecutive bowl game appearances.
Tiller was awarded Purdue’s Order of the Griffin for extraordinary commitment to the university, and inducted into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
After the loss of a prominent member of the program, teams typically honor their memory with a patch or helmet decal of some kind. Expect Purdue to do something of the sort for Tiller, who is a titan in the annals of of Purdue football history.
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