West Lafayette, IN – Purdue announced on Sunday that Danny Hope will not return as head football coach for the 2013 season, despite the Boilermakers winning their final three games and becoming bowl eligible for a second straight year.
Purdue closed out the regular season with victories over Big Ten foes Iowa, Illinois and Indiana to finish with a 6-6 record, but the team went just 3-5 in conference play and endured a five-game losing streak midway through the campaign.
The move comes 11 months after the university signed Hope to a two-year contract extension through 2016 after he guided the program to a 7-6 mark and a victory over Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
Purdue also defeated in-state rival Indiana in each of the last two season, including a 56-35 triumph in Saturday's Old Oaken Bucket game.
"There is no question that our football program has seen considerable growth under Danny's leadership, particularly in the areas of academics, player development and recruiting," said Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke. "I applaud him for his passion about Purdue University and the young men he coaches. He and his staff have devoted their lives to improving the program, but as I told him earlier this afternoon, those efforts did not equate to the consistent on-field success that both of us expected."
In Hope's four years in charge, the Boilermakers went just 22-27 overall and 13-19 in the Big Ten while never finishing in the upper half of the conference standings. He received a $600,000 buyout.
Hope joined the Boilermakers as associate head coach prior to the 2008 season and replaced the retiring Joe Tiller as head coach the following year. He also served as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2003-07 and compiled a 35-22 mark with the Colonels.
Wide receivers coach Patrick Higgins will take over as interim head coach for Purdue's upcoming bowl game.
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