Danny Hope: 'Coaching isn't all what happens behind the whistle'

Despite Danny Hope's 22-27 record in four seasons at Purdue, it was Hope's belief that declining ticket sales were the main reason for his dismissal.

"It came down to ticket sales," Hope told West Lafayette news station WLFI. "Ticket sales have been dropping here since 2000. It's not all about what happens just behind the whistle. You have to have some accountability behind the necktie as well."

The "necktie" that Hope was referring to was Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke.

"I know it wasn't an easy thing for Morgan to do, but I felt like if he had been a little more accountable then he would not have had to...exercised the responsibility of dismissing me."

"We had finished strong, and the players wanted us to be there. We hoped we had done enough. But I knew it was close. We had a tough stretch there and didn't come through at a critical time of the season and, obviously, had lost the support of our administration."

Hope felt that their strong finish to the 2012 season (winning three in a row to end the season) should have been enough to retain him and his staff.

Coaching is a complex profession that will always be about more than wins and losses, or ticket sales. And as we all know, when one door closes, another one opens in the coaching profession. Darrell Hazell has since been tabbed to take over the Boilermaker program, and will look for more consistency in all aspects from the gold and black in 2013.