Purdue fires coach Darrell Hazell
Darrell Hazell is no longer Purdue’s coach after he was fired Sunday afternoon.
The Boilermakers fell 49-35 to Iowa at home on Saturday, dropping Hazell’s career record as Purdue’s coach to 9-33.
“From the first time I met Darrell, I could tell he was a man of high character – a quality person who you would want leading a group of young men – but our inconsistent performance and inability to generate positive momentum thus far this season, along with the disappointing results of the past three seasons, made it clear to me that we needed to make a change. This is not a decision taken lightly, and I respect and appreciate the dedicated effort Darrell has put forth on behalf of Purdue,” Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said in a statement.
Wide receivers coach Gerad Parker will be the team’s interim coach for the rest of the season.
Hazell said after the loss that the team needed to “keep pushing.” Purdue is 3-3.
“I’m doing everything right to help these guys become better. There’s no question that we’re moving forward,” Hazell said via Gold and Black. “Obviously it doesn’t feel good right after this game. But we’re doing a lot of good things. We just have to keep pushing. That’s all.”
The Iowa loss included the use of a timeout with two seconds to go in the first half. The play after the timeout? It was to take a knee and run out the clock.
The Boilermakers beat Illinois a week ago in overtime to go to 3-2. The Illinois win was Hazell’s third and final Big Ten win. Had Purdue gotten a fourth win with Hazell as coach this season it would have been his winningest season with the team. He ends his Purdue tenure as the least-successful coach (who has coached over seven games) in team history.
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Hazell was hired before the 2013 season and the team went 1-11 in his first season. Purdue improved to 3-9 in 2014 and dropped to 2-10 in 2016. Before he came to Purdue, Hazell was 16-10 in two seasons at Kent State.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
