Purdue lost to Iowa, 49-35, Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette. Roughly 24 hours later, it fired head coach Darrell Hazell in the middle of his fourth season.
He was 9-33 in that time at Purdue, and he will be missed.
More pressing for Buckeye fans, however, is the vacancy could be filled by one of Urban Meyer's current assistants. According to USA TODAY's Dan Wolken, Purdue will look at "pretty much every" Ohio State assistant and "some" Michigan assistants.
Pretty much every assistant at Ohio State and some at Michigan are likely to be candidates for Purdue, Im told.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 16, 2016
Warriner, Beck, Schiano, Fickell all likely to get a look https://t.co/kidwa3nlHY
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 16, 2016
Meyer asks his assistants for two years of service. All of those names listed, sans Greg Schiano, have satisfied that commitment. Warinner and Fickell have been linked to head coaching jobs in the past.
While Schiano has only coached Ohio State for one year, Meyer and him go way back. It's conceivable he'd let his old friend out of the commitment for another head coaching gig.
Whether any of them listen to Purdue is another matter entirely, however.
Purdue plays No. 8 Nebraska in Lincoln this Saturday.
