Early Offseason Changes to Purdue Football’s Coaching Staff

It didn’t take long after the end of the Boilermakers’ 2011-2012 football season. Goldandblack.com has reported that at least two Purdue assistants will leave their positions in West Lafayette. Defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Gary Emanuel will not return next season. Emanuel is known as a very good recruiter, but was also the coordinator of a defense that finished 9th in the Big Ten in both yards (395.9) and points (26.8) allowed per game. Also, journeyman assistant coach Phil Elmassian has left for a job at UMass after just one season at Purdue. It has been indicated by Goldandblack.com that Elmassian would not have been retained by Purdue. Elmassian was the linebackers coach. My personal take: I do not think that the loss of Elmassian is significant. He was only at Purdue for one season and perhaps he didn’t mesh with the current coaching staff, although that’s a little strange since he worked previously with Hope under Tiller. Changing schoo...