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PURDUE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 4, 2008

Joe Tiller

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Tiller.

Q. In terms of leadership and loyalty Saturday, what is going to go into the decision you're going to make regarding quarterback?
COACH TILLER: That surprises me I would get a quarterback question this early in the game (laughter). But I think it's not so much intangibles as it's tangible in terms of who can handle the game plan.
Also, you know, there's no guarantee that Curtis Painter will be ready and we'll even have that decision to make. Now, he is much improved. Of course, tonight will be our first opportunity to watch him throw and try to throw all the routes, so we'll see how he does.
But we may or may not even have a decision to make regarding that. If we do have a decision to make, however, it will be based on the game plan, who we feel can execute the game plan the best and give our team the best chance to win. It won't be a loyalty issue so much as it will be who can help us be successful, and that's the guy we'll end up going with.

Q. What did Justin show you Saturday that he hadn't shown in the pre-season? You talked earlier he could never move ahead of Joey for number two. What did he show there that he hadn't shown you before?
COACH TILLER: I think two things. I think composure. I thought he did a great job of handling various situations. Number two, I thought that he did a really good job of throwing the football. In the spring he had a habit I guess you would say of hitting the open linebacker. He threw a lot of interceptions in the spring. I think that he just made good decisions in the ballgame. He could have had a ball or maybe even two balls intercepted in the game, but he didn't. Most of his decisions were good decisions and his accuracy was better than the accuracy he had in the spring.

Q. What did you see in the tape that Wisconsin did against Ringer that nobody else has been able to do?
COACH TILLER: Well, I think they're a physical football team. I think they have exceptional linebackers. I think their front seven, they're loaded up on the run and did what they wanted to do, which was basically stop him. But I think it was due mainly to the physicality of the style of play that Wisconsin brought to the field with them.

Q. Does that translate over into your defense? Seeing how linebacker isn't the strength, do you have to look somewhere else or not use that kind of approach?
COACH TILLER: Well, we don't have the same personnel that Wisconsin does, so we'll take a slightly different approach. But, you know, the goal I'm sure will be the same as the week moves along, and that will be to at least slow this guy down because he's having a phenomenal year, whatever that takes. If it involves more blitzing or trying to bring numbers at him versus a physical player at their offensive line, then that's what it will be. But obviously it will have to start with addressing Ringer because he's having a great year.

Q. Do you expect Curtis to practice today or Wednesday?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, we expect him to be out there today. I haven't talked to him this morning, but I talked to him yesterday in the weight room. He feels better. He feels like he can throw some of the routes. We'll see how he does today.

Q. In determining who will start, when do you like to make that decision usually?
COACH TILLER: Well, you like to make it as early in the week as possible because then from a practice point of view you can give that particular individual more reps than the other guy. I don't think we're going to have that luxury, however, this week.

Q. If Curtis is able to go, do you think it could also be a case up in East Lansing that both guys see the field?
COACH TILLER: Yup.

Q. With Siller's performance on Saturday, could you tell by the fan's reaction he was sort of a breath of fresh air? Did the coaching staff get a boost by his performance?
COACH TILLER: The latter more than the former, I didn't pay too much attention to that. Not that I didn't want to. I think I made this comment either last night on the TV show or the radio show, I can't recall, one of those two shows, that I thought our crowd was very good Saturday, and I thought they hung in there with us even in spite of the fact we went down 14-0 and went down 28-14. I thought our crowd stayed with us, particularly our students, but really our entire crowd. I thought that that was very, very positive.
Now, maybe they were doing that because of Justin Siller. I don't know that. But it was certainly encouraging to have the crowd hang around from a vocal point of view, not a physical point of view, to help us. I think that always inspires your team some.

Q. Given the fact how Justin played on Saturday, do you think he earned the right to start and would that be a tough decision not to start him?
COACH TILLER: I'd like to think it won't be a tough decision. I think it's a decision that will have to be made later in the week. Like I say, Curtis may not be able to play. I don't know. Curtis might be healthy but not quite healthy enough. Curtis might be fully recovered.
I think two weeks after the injury, the type of injury he has, I think it's very reasonable to expect him to be at 80 or 90%. So then we'd have to make a late-in-the-week decision on it. But we may not be dealing with that. Or, like I say, we may and we'll make that call based on the game plan.

Q. I want to go to something you said after the game Saturday when asked about the quarterback situation. You said something to the effect that Curtis is your quarterback. Just wanted you to clarify. You're not giving up on Curtis Painter; the guy deserves more, right?
COACH TILLER: No, Curtis has done a lot. He's played a lot of football for us. We can certainly run more of the offense when he's in there than when Justin is in there. I think it would be foolish for us to push him aside and say, Hey, you know, he can't help us win any more. I think that's not true. I think he's quite capable of helping us be successful.

Q. Were you surprised Justin didn't establish himself maybe as the number two guy, whether it was in spring or fall drills after what you saw last year?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, I was after what I saw last Saturday from him. I'm thinking to myself, Where's this guy been? As I said, I think everyone's heard me say it coming out of the spring. We gave both those guys equal opportunities. To Joey's credit, when spring practice was over, there wasn't any question in any coach on our staff's mind about who clearly was number two and who was number three.
If there was any surprise regarding Justin Siller after the game Saturday, my thoughts were, Where has that guy been? But it certainly was refreshing and nice to see him perform this way.

Q. Is he one of those guys that maybe doesn't practice as well as what he played on Saturday? Is that fair to say?
COACH TILLER: I don't think so. And I say that because as the week moved on we got a little more optimistic. Now, you have to remember, that was a different game plan. It was a different set of plays. We were asking him to do less than we asked of him in the spring when we actually had more offense on the table at that time than we did last week.
What I didn't know is I didn't know if we had enough offense in. In other words, you can scale back, but how far do you scale back before all of a sudden you begin to handicap your team.
But he handled practice well and actually improved as the week moved on. So we were feeling pretty good going into the game about his ability to execute that limited game plan. We just didn't know if it would be enough.
But, you know, when we didn't have an option with Painter, it really was a moot point.

Q. Going back to something you said a couple weeks ago about Ryan Baker. You said throughout his career, no matter what, he's been positive for Purdue. Elaborate on his personality and his play.
COACH TILLER: The guy is amazingly mentally tough to me. He's a stay-the-course guy. You can't break his will. We were talking as a staff - maybe I should or shouldn't say this, but because I am who I am I'll say it anyway. And that is we like our front four defensively. Practicing against our front four is good for us. Mike Neal has shown flashes of being a really good player, which is what we thought he would be, but he's been nicked forever. Magee can be a handful at any given time. Kerrigan is the emerging real player of the group. When I say "real player," I'm not suggesting those other guys aren't players, but I think Kerrigan can be a special player before he leaves Purdue. So then that leaves you with Baker.
Anyway, one of the coaches said, If the four of them got in a fight, I think I'd put my money on Baker. I said, I think I would, too. That pretty much describes what we think of him.
He's really good. He's positive. You can't break his will. He's never convinced that he's out of the game. He thinks he can win the game regardless of what the scoreboard may say. He's really a mentally tough guy, along with being a positive and upbeat guy. He's our leader in terms of community service, et cetera. As a matter of fact, I question how he finds the time to do as much as he does.

Q. (Question regarding Baker reminding Coach Tiller of a past player.)
COACH TILLER: I don't know. I'd have to think about that. I'd probably have to go through each team and see who is on that particular team. As I get older, I tend to forget who was on those teams. But he's a special guy, there's no question about it.

Q. (Question regarding the jersey.)
COACH TILLER: No, I don't. I notice the thing was off yesterday. I didn't pay much attention to that until you brought it to my attention on Sunday. I did see it, but I didn't think anything about it. Then you asked a question on Sunday. So yesterday, coming back from one of those wonderful media events we had, I noticed the jersey is gone. I'm thinking, whoever put it up there must have climbed up there. Then I got to thinking, I wonder if they brought in one of those extended arm things. How the heck would you get up there? I don't know.
It wasn't me, that's all I know (laughter).

Q. Has he turned into the sort of player you kind of thought he would be when you recruited him for three years?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, he really does in the sense that, you know, we knew he was a great team guy, good for your team. That was the take on him coming out of high school. His high school coaches couldn't rave enough about him in terms of what he brought to the team.
When we recruited him, we certainly didn't press this, but we thought that we recruited him to get him to Purdue. He wanted to be a tight end. Okay, Ryan, this week you're a tight end. Last week you were a defensive end. Tom (indiscernible) or somebody got to him and said, You're an NFL tight end. So I said, Heck, yes, you're an NFL tight end, Ryan.
I think our thoughts all along were he was going to be a defensive tackle. He doesn't run well tough to be a tight end. He doesn't run well enough to be a defensive end. We always thought he would be a tackle.
The reason I brought that up is because he's an undersized tackle. In spite of his want to, we knew that it would take him some time to develop and get his strength up so he could be competitive.

Q. Is it possible he worked too hard in the weight room over the years?
COACH TILLER: No, I don't think so. I think, you know, if you look at his parents, you evaluate the bloodlines, et cetera, I don't think he was destined to be a huge, huge person.

Q. Talk about him in the classroom a little bit.
COACH TILLER: Exceptional in the classroom. Was actually kind of a pain in the patoot when he was first here because he wanted a tutor 24 hours a day, you know, in every class. But, you know, his work ethic I think is unparalleled in terms of what he's accomplished academically.
He's a guy that you know today he'll be successful in life no matter what it is he decides to do. It won't be, Well, let's wait and see if he matures into something special. He's quite a guy.

Q. Obviously you didn't have Hedstrom and Sester Saturday. Do you expect either of those guys Saturday? Are you holding out hope?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, we're holding out hope. We need to go ahead to the practice field and see 'em. Sester has been cleared by the trainer to participate in drills today. Hedstrom probably is a little bit further behind Sester at this point. Looks good for Hedstrom.
The reason I bring that up is when you have a week off, you don't play, you don't practice, you'd like to think that your recovery would be that second week, but it may not.

Q. What are your thoughts on how that game ended, the Ohio State game in 2000?
COACH TILLER: I think that's the toughest loss I've ever had at Purdue anyway because I was convinced when we left and got on the plane to fly to Columbus that we had a team that could win in Columbus. Of course, we came within one overtime of doing that. I knew we were taking a very good team over there. I thought, This is the year that the Boilers are going to win in Columbus.
When we lost it in overtime, Ben was kicking very well at the time, but that was probably his sourest kick in the whole year. You know, it wasn't to be. I was disappointed. I struggled with that loss. I probably took it a little more personal than I should have.

Q. Just a clarification from something I asked you last week about Curtis. You said it was basically his decision on whether he was going to play. Did he come to you midweek and say, Coach, I can't go?
COACH TILLER: As the week progressed, obviously every single day, and some days more than once a day, I was trying to get an update on how he felt coming out of the training room after treatment, et cetera. Certainly by Thursday of last week I knew there was no way he was going to go. He threw the ball a little bit, but he couldn't throw the ball over (indiscernible). Maybe he could have, but it hurt him to throw over that.
Although we continued to fight the good fight, I didn't really think he'd be ready on Saturday.

Q. When he initially hurt the shoulder, it wasn't as severe as Joey, obviously. You mentioned you played with a separated shoulder. Is it different because of the position he plays? Obviously he needs that right arm, needs to feel healthy.
COACH TILLER: Yeah, it's a difficult injury to work with. You know, the thing that affects you on that, and it's maybe one of the few injuries I know anything about, because it's one I experienced myself, and that is it's hard when you get your arm above your shoulder. So players that have separated shoulders to the first degree, it's not uncommon for them to actually have a restrainer that goes around their waist, a little strap. You've seen that from time to time. That's to prevent them from getting their arm up in the air.
Heck, what type of quarterback could throw the ball like this? So obviously that motion is the most difficult one to deal with.

Q. There were a few of us reporters, we obviously don't know anything, but after the game we were saying, How can you not start Siller? Are we just crazy?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, you're just crazy (laughter).

Q. Anthony Heygood has been tremendous for you this year. Can you talk about what he's meant to this defense.
COACH TILLER: Well, thank God we have him. You know, he's played well. He's provided us with leadership, along with a multiplicity of outstanding plays. He's been the only linebacker we've had. I think Joe Holland has done a good job considering the circumstances. I think that Chris Carlino has improved. You probably notice we're putting him on the field more and more. But Anthony's been the rock that's been there and has showed up every week.
He's not as talented as Jason Werner, but he's having a heck of a year. He's helping us, not just from a playing point of view but also from a leadership point of view.

Q. (Question regarding fans calling into the radio show.)
COACH TILLER: You just did. You said an idiot fan or...

Q. I don't think on your radio show you'd call them an idiot fan.
COACH TILLER: I wouldn't. But I'd agree with them if they said that. Obviously I would (laughter).

Q. I'm a caller, I say, Coach, how can you consider starting him? What would you say to that caller?
COACH TILLER: Well, you haven't been on the practice field with us, so you really don't know.

Q. (Question regarding Ryan Baker).
COACH TILLER: It is, because really when we recruited Ryan, we liked him. We liked his demeanor. We liked his intensity. We also thought we'd probably redshirt him. So he was really, in the recruiting process, one of the those guys that we thought, This guy's going to be a good developmental player at Purdue, and we're going to get three really good years out of him.
He's ahead of schedule.

Q. What has happened to him this year?
COACH TILLER: He's even stronger. He's a smart young man. If you talk to him, you can tell. You know, he puts thought into his answers. He's a guy that uses his brain as well as his body to play the game. When he sees something, if he sees it once, he usually doesn't get fooled by it again.
I'm not saying he's perfect, but he's a low-rep guy. Oftentimes young players are high-rep guys. That has really helped him.

Q. (Indiscernible) anybody that he would remind you of?
COACH TILLER: Well, he's a stronger Anthony. He's having a better sophomore year than Anthony Spencer did. But he's similar to Spence in how he plays. Anthony Spencer was a good defensive end, but unfortunately he was hurt all the time until his senior year. Then, wow, what a year he had. I would have loved to see him healthy for three years.
But, you know, he was the physical end, but he combined physicality with a burst once he could clear the blocker. He had that surge to the passer. That's kind of the way Ryan is.
He's different. He reminds me a little bit of Chuki Wakori (phonetic) because he's very strong in the upper body. He can keep a blocker off with one hand. He can push a blocker back with one hand. So he's a physical player. He's not as fast as Shaun Phillips, for instance, or Aiken Adell (phonetic). Everyone is a little bit different. I think he's different than any of the others.

Q. You like the total package?
COACH TILLER: We like everything he brings. We like his intensity and we like his toughness as well as his abilities.

Q. (Indiscernible).
COACH TILLER: I think he has a pretty good point, pretty legitimate point, because of the trend in the way that offenses have gone. I think what Wisconsin is finding out, and I'm not Wisconsin so I don't know, but I don't care what offense you're running, if the guy you have behind center isn't pretty good or isn't a very talented player, your total team's going to struggle to one degree or another.
I think they've had some quarterback issues at Wisconsin this year. But watching them on tape, you know, they're big, strong, physical guys. That game in East Lansing last week probably went the way it should go because, you know, it's like two teams scrimmaging against each other. You know, both physical. Wisconsin is even bigger than Michigan State is on the offensive line, but both have an affinity to run the football.

Q. (Question regarding getting ready for Michigan State.)
COACH TILLER: We need to get to the field healthy. We can't lose anybody in practice this week. That's a problem with practicing against this style of offense is you need to be physical, you need to spill the ball outside. We use that term wrong shoulder it, get underneath it, trap blocker, lead fullback, lead blocker and the like. There isn't any way to dodge that. It's like playing football in a phone booth: you can't get out of the way and expect to be successful. What you really need to do is be healthy, completely healthy, then execute the plan.

Q. (Question about Ringer.)
COACH TILLER: I think an interesting thing about him is that he's not the biggest back in the league that has ever put up those kind of numbers, that's for sure. But he's very similar to the really outstanding tailbacks that you see over a period of time, and that is he gets stronger as the game goes on. I don't know if he gets stronger or if the opponent just begins to wear down. But, you know, he's had multiple games where he's broken big plays in the second half of the games. That tells me this guy is great from an endurance point of view. He has nearly 400 rushes, I think.
I think about anything you're going to throw at him he's already seen.

Q. (Indiscernible).
COACH TILLER: Well, I think their quarterback, you know, had a great game against us here last year. Bobby, he's a guy that has had his moments where he's been very, very good. What you don't want to do is you don't want to play him on a day when they're running the football extremely well and they're throwing the football extremely well. You'd like them to not do one or the other on the day you play them. But you never know what you're going to get.

Q. (Question regarding a mood change on the team.)
COACH TILLER: I think dramatically. I think they're about the same as everybody else. I think they're a little giddish, a little bounce to their step. That's always encouraging. That's always good. It's human nature.

Q. What's the rallying cry? What do you press on them for the rest of the season? Obviously you can say, Let's win. But, I mean, what do you say is the reason to win?
COACH TILLER: Every time you take the field, you know, you're looking to be successful. I think what you want to do is demonstrate some pride. If you've accomplished something once, why not go out and do it again and again and again? That's demonstration you have pride in your performance.

Q. (Indiscernible) looking at the recruiting trail, do you feel Purdue is behind.
COACH TILLER: That's a problem if you read something because it must be coming from another media person.

Q. That's why I came to you. Is the transition with Danny Hope, are you guys where you want to be with the program? Is it fine right now with nine verbals? Is that where it needs to be?
COACH TILLER: He's okay with it. If he's okay with it, I'm okay with it. It's not really my call. You know, I think he's making -- I don't think, I know he's making a real concerted effort to bring some speed onto the roster, which I think we need overall from a team perspective.
He's very comfortable with where we're at. You know, that's his call, not mine. And I don't disagree. I think we need speed. We need an injection of speed if we're going to become more competitive in the future.

Q. Just judging it from past years, do you have any sense of where it is right now compared to where it's been in the past?
COACH TILLER: Well, you know, Coach Hope is trying a different approach. We'll see how it works. We always felt like we wanted to have a dozen guys by the time you get to Thanksgiving, we'd like to have 15 of them before Christmas. That's approximately where we wanted to be.
Maybe it's because the process has speeded up so much. You know, I know they're in on a lot of good players. My advice was to make sure that your pool is big enough because the bottom can fall out of it overnight. I can remember three or four years ago, probably we're paying a price for it today, but we had like 12 linebackers on the board late in December, and we wanted to get two to three of them. We had 12 of them that were either already here for a visit or committed to come here and visit. We went home one weekend. We come back that Monday, there were two left. 10 of them committed elsewhere on that weekend.
So my only recommendation was that, you know, make sure your pool is big enough. I don't think you have to worry about how many verbals you have at this point in the game, but your pool better be large enough so that if all of a sudden the ducks start falling and they're not falling your way, you've got at least a cover.

Q. (Question regarding Rod Woodson.)
COACH TILLER: I think to this day he's still the best athlete I've ever been around. We've been around some pretty good athletes, but Rod was an exceptional guy because he was an All-American on a losing football team, which is very unusual. But he could have been an All-American most likely as a runningback or defensive back. There aren't many guys you could say that about. As a matter of fact, he's the only one that I've personally been around that you could say that.
The thing that I'll always remember about Rod Woodson, other than the fact he lined up and started for us as free safety against Notre Dame, coming out of Fort Wayne Snider High School, the first introduction to college football was against Notre Dame, anyway, was when the season was over, he checked in his football equipment and went over to Lambert Field House and set a freshman record for the indoor hurdles, never having practiced. I thought, This guy is some kind of an athlete. Really, really an outstanding athlete.

Q. Did you like seeing him at practice on a day-to-day basis?
COACH TILLER: He was good. I don't know, he might have a more difficult time today as a youngster than he did at that time. We didn't have near the scrutiny that took place. We didn't have as many people telling him he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It was pretty easy to keep his feet on the ground. He was levelheaded. He worked hard. He really liked football. He liked practicing football. So he liked everything about the game. Nobody got to him. Don't forget, he played four years. Nobody got to him when he was a sophomore and said, Hey, are you going to come out next year or not? He didn't have those thoughts in his head, which let him really zero in on the game. That's why I say, he had an easier time of it. All players had an easier time with the game at that time, 25 years ago, than they do today. Today, all a guy has to have is one good year. If he has a great sophomore year, the barrage begins and it never lets up and it never ends. Are you coming out? He can say, No, I'm not thinking about coming out. Hell, by the end of the season, after he's asked 899 times, Maybe I should be coming out. Everybody wants to know. Maybe I don't see something everybody else sees.
Young guys today have a more difficult time managing it than they did.

Q. If he gets elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame...
COACH TILLER: He played 15 years. Longer than any man has a right to, other than a kicker (laughter).

Q. Professionally and personally for you, what would it mean to see someone that you coached get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
COACH TILLER: Well, it's neat. You're really happy. Number one, you're always really happy for the player himself. But it gives you a little bragging rights, too. Hey, I knew that guy. I coached that guy.
Always gotten along well with Rod. Had good visits when he's come back. He has a real interest in our players. He's always asking me about, Who is this guy? Who is that guy? When we played that game up there in Fort Wayne, that spring game, we were visiting for a half hour before the game, and our team was out there warming up. He wanted to know every guy on the roster. Who is that guy? Don't worry about him, he's a walk-on. Who is that? He looks pretty good.
Anyway, I've always gotten along well with Rod. Wish him the best.

Q. You know football. I just cover it.
COACH TILLER: Thank you. Go ahead (laughter).

Q. He goes all pro and excels at both cornerback and safety. I would figure on the college level that's hard, but on the pro level how monumentally impressive is that?
COACH TILLER: I think it's impressive because it shows that mentally he can handle that. Those are two different positions. At the cornerback position, I'm not suggesting you don't have to think, because you do, but it's a much simpler position to play. When you move to safety, all of a sudden you're involved in coverage rotation, formation identification, changing the coverage on the snap. I think that would tell you Rod Woodson is not only an outstanding player but the guy was (indiscernible). Some guys can't make that adjustment. It's not because they can't make it physically, it's because they can't make it mentally. But he can do it.

End of FastScripts

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