Purdue athletic director Tommy McClelland made a mea culpa for a remark about Indiana University that caused an immediate uproar for its attempt at bravado and apparent ignorance regarding recent events.
During his introductory press conference on Thursday, McClelland laid out what supporters should expect from the Boilermakers’ athletic programs under his tenure. In doing so, he took a shot at rival Indiana that came off as badly misguided.
“We are here to win championships.,” McClelland said. “If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana. Purdue may not be the place for you.”
With that dig at Purdue’s intra-state conference rival. McClelland either chose to overlook or wasn’t aware of the Hoosiers winning the College Football Playoff national championship last season. And he was rightly ridiculed by fans and media for it.
A day later, McClelland appeared on Friday’s “The Pat McAfee Show” to admit he was trying to rally a huge alumni base and touting the standard Matt Painter has established with the men’s basketball program. But in doing so, he made a big mistake with an ill-advised attempt at humor.
“The one-liner joke that I gave yesterday about an in-state rival… it didn’t land well,” McClelland said to McAfee. “But I can tell you this, Pat, that we are going to build programs here that are better at winning championships than I am at one-liners.”
McClelland — who was hired from Rice, where he was athletic director for three years — continued to acknowledge his gaffe by expressing regret for how it diverted focus from his true intentions.
“The part that I’m disappointed in about yesterday is that the comment distracted off what the real goal here is and that is to set our eyes to what is possible for Purdue,” he added. “I don’t want to say that we can’t have success in any sport at any level.”
During the past three football seasons — two under head coach Ryan Walters, the other in Barry Odom’s first year — Purdue has won a total of seven games. Meanwhile, Indiana has gone 27-2 in Curt Cignetti’s two seasons in Bloomington with two CFP berths and the aforementioned national championship.
Football is currently the engine that powers college sports, but it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that McClelland held up the men’s basketball program as the standard to which Purdue athletics should aspire.
The Boilermakers have won 29 or more games for the past five seasons and made one national title game appearance. That’s the level of success that Indiana’s once-vaunted program once achieved, but hasn’t reached for nearly the past 20 years. Perhaps if McClelland keeps his jokes pointed there, they might land better.
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