Purdue football dedicates Tiller Tunnel to honor former coach Joe Tiller
WEST LAFAYETTE − When Joe Tiller had the opportunity to become Purdue football coach in 1997, he was immediately on board.
His wife, though, not so much.
"We'd been winning at Wyoming, and I was like, 'Geez, I don't know if I can get used to losing again,'" Arnette Tiller said. "And then we lost to Toledo (in Tiller's first game as head coach) and I thought, 'Here we go.'
"Anyway, I was wrong, and he was right."
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Tiller didn't just win at Purdue. He became the face of a program that had for several years before been associated with losing.
On Saturday morning prior to Purdue football's Homecoming game against Illinois, the Tiller Tunnel was officially dedicated with Boilermaker football alumni and families in attendance.
Completing the tunnel, an ode to to the Tiller era from 1997-2008, complete with the name of every Purdue football player under Tiller.
"One of the things I talk about is how many people you touch while you're here," said former Purdue defensive end Shaun Phillips, who played for Tiller in the early 2000s before a 10-year NFL career. "When you're a person like Coach Tiller, he's been here since '97. He's touched a lot of people's lives.
"Not only my life, but a ton of players' lives and even their families' lives. That's what you want to do in life. How many people can you touch before you exit Earth, and he embodied that."
Tiller was on Purdue's staff from 1983-86.
His second stint, the one where Arnette Tiller wasn't ready to lose again, saw Tiller, who died in 2017, become Purdue's all-time winningest coach and go to 10 bowl games in 12 seasons, including the 2001 Rose Bowl after the Boilermakers won the 2000 Big Ten championship.
Now Purdue football players for generations to come will run through a tunnel bearing the legendary coach's name.
"We have been thinking for years the right way to honor Coach Tiller and his legacy," Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said. "What's the right way to do that. We've got the street named after him (Joe Tiller Drive outside of Ross-Ade Stadium), but that didn't seem like enough, and it's not enough."
From there, building a tunnel that connects Purdue's practice facility to its football stadium became a matter of finances.
Except it didn't.
"It was one of the easiest fundraising initiatives we've ever had," Bobinski said. "You put Tiller's name on something and things happen."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue football dedicates tunnel to honor former coach Joe Tiller
