The Burkening Begins

Sharon Versyp has been, by many accounts, an adequate coach during her 10 seasons at Purdue: no regular-season titles, one last-place finish (in a season marred by injuries), no Final Four appearances, only two seasons with no NCAA bid, two Elite Eight trips and four Big Ten tournament titles, 9 straight seasons with 9 or more losses.

Coming off a season that showed some promise, it would be reasonable to give Versyp a two-year extension, or perhaps even three if you wanted to recognize her service to the program, keeping in mind that Purdue doesn't exactly have the money to attract top-level coaches. But that, my dear readers, is not Morgan Burke's style, no sir, no ma'am. Instead, as part of the Morgan J. Burke Farewell Tour, Versyp signed a six-year extension today. (I'm assuming her agent advised her to sign it immediately upon receiving it.)

The Boilers haven't won 30 wins since 2006-07, her first season at Purdue; they haven't won 25 since 2012-13. They haven't made it out of the second round of the NCAAs since 2008-09. They haven't finished higher than fourth in the conference since 2011-12. They haven't lost fewer than 5 conference games since that 2006-07 season. None of these are damning by themselves, and even in total, they don't necessarily draw a picture of a collapsed program ... but they certainly don't suggest a coach worthy of an extension more than half as long as her tenure. 

I feel a little sick just thinking of what will happen when Darrell Hazell's contract is up for renewal.