The Boilermakers played in the Rose Bowl a quarter century ago. Barry Odom wants to get Purdue football back there one day.
Editor's note: This story is the eighth and final entry in a series related to Purdue's 2000 football season.
Last December, Barry Odom became the fifth Purdue football coach hired since Joe Tiller retired in 2008, not including three interim coaches.
All of them chased, but couldn't accomplish, what Tiller's team was able to do in 2000.
Jeff Brohm came closest, leading the Boilermakersto the 2022 Big Ten Championship game in which they lost to Michigan.
That's the bar Tiller left for the program 25 years ago.
"We need to get it back to that," Odom said. "We need to get it back to Tiller days of how they played ball and making Purdue what it was and what it can be and what it will be."
In some ways, that era feels more distant than ever.
The Boilermakers have lost 18 consecutive Big Ten games since a win over Indiana in the 2023 season finale.
Entering the 2000 season, Purdue had a roster full of players with a single mindset.
"The biggest thing is, what can we do to do our part to make sure that we're in a position to compete for championships," said Kevin Nesfield, mostly a scout team defensive end on Purdue's last Big Ten championship football team 25 years ago.
It raised the level of every player in every practice.
"When you play around guys that are all passionate, that are all driving in the same direction and have a championship mindset, they want to be the best at everything and it’s a contagious deal," said former Purdue fullback Jon Goldsberry, who redshirted during that 2000 season.
Why couldn't Purdue capitalize in the immediate aftermath of what it accomplished during its Rose Bowl season?
Those who returned for the 2001 season were certain the Boilermakers would remain at the top of the league.
"I wish we were able to get to the Rose Bowl one more time," said Gilbert Gardner, a starting linebacker as a freshman in 2000. "If you told me that when we left Pasadena we wouldn't be back, I would say you are lying. I guarantee we get back. It just never happened."
Purdue finished second in the conference in 2003 with a team led by seniors who'd been key pieces of the 2000 roster.
"My senior year of high school, we won our first conference championship ever. Then I go to Purdue and lead the team in tackles, lead the team in interceptions, we win the Big Ten," said Stuart Schweigert, a starting free safety for Purdue from 2000-03. "This is easy, man. You expect to have that every year.
"It just shows how hard it is to get back to that point. We had some really good teams, but it’s tough. It’s really, really hard to win a championship in rec basketball, let alone in the Big Ten. You walk in and you go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1967, it's like we’re going to be back every year."
The Big Ten has expanded from 11 to 18 teams since then and the landscape of college football, with ever-changing rosters, has had Purdue playing catchup more than keeping pace in recent seasons.
It's part of what made that 2000 season so memorable and why it still resonates a quarter century later.
"It is nostalgic to be able to go back and talk about this team and how much of an impact it has," former offensive lineman Kelly Butler said.
Many players from that era have remained in touch, some still closest friends, or even business partners, to this day. For those who aren't, there remains no disconnect at every opportunity to reunite.
"There’s certain people that don’t come back very often. When they do, it's pick up where you left off 25 years ago. It happens like that smoothly," former defensive lineman Matt Mitrione said. "There’s never awkward silences where you don’t really know what to say. A lot of it is not really even about football. It’s a really cool maturation process we’ve all gone through."
For now, Purdue football is chasing new nostalgia for future generations.
"My big thought at the end when we lost (the Rose Bowl) was, 'OK, there’s more room for Purdue football to elevate and come in here and do what we didn’t,'" said Chukky Okobi, Purdue's starting center. "There’s still some meat on the bone for future generations.
"I still hold that desire in my heart that we’re not the standard. Hopefully, 20 or 30 years from now, we’re talking about somebody else who replaced all of Drew Brees' records and eclipsed an offensive line that won 10 Super Bowls. I want to see Purdue elevate and take this thing to another level. We showed you what was possible. Now, I want to see what they say is impossible."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue football Rose Bowl team the bar for Barry Odom, coaches
Category: General Sports
