Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Joe Tiller's Foxy Secretary

On a very steamy day in September 1997 I hugged a soaking wet and slightly disoriented Joe Tiller, head football coach at Purdue University, after having stormed the field at Ross-Ade Stadium. Tiller had led the Boilermakers to a 28-17 victory over Notre Dame, Purdue's first victory over the Irish in thirteen seasons. He was 1 - 1 at Purdue but already a god. Tiller went on to take the Boilers to a bowl that season and the subsequent seven that followed. Things were good.

Jump ahead to last season. Tiller has a highly regarded defense and a strong-armed quarterback, yet only manages a quite disappointing 5 - 6 year. The cavalcade of poor news begins: no bowl, off the field drama with a team increasingly sans chemistry, players leaving early for the NFL. Tiller does what any coach who still has a job after a season like that does: he shakes things up. The staff sees many new faces along with departures of stalwart assistants from the glory days. Lucky for us though, one member of the Boilermaker football organization survived the cut, and she just might hold the key to success this season.

Above is page 62 of the program to this year's season. Mixed in with ticket manager George Ade and Cheer and Mascot Coach Elvis Moya is a Football Secretary on the edge of the second row. Someone might want to check to see if her resume mentions any roles in Bond/Austin Powers movies. I hope the Boiler faithful are ready for another bowl jaunt, because there's no stopping Foxy Lafon.

2 comments:

I'm a Jayhawk said...

Prudent decision by Coach Tiller for sparing her the guillotine. You always want a Foxy in your organization. It's crucial for all D-1 football programs to have a woman in the office who can type press releases as well as karate chop any unwanted members of the press who wander too close to Coach Tiller. Who knows, she may be a double agent from IU.

I haven't taken the time to read program guides in a while and I didn't realize how many football secretaries a university employs. My favorite job on the page has to be the Director of Premium Seat Stewardship. What is that, exactly?

Anyway, I remember watching that Purdue-ND game that you're talking about. That was a heck of a football game.

Ross McLochness said...

I don't exactly know what the Director of Premium Seat Stewardship does, but he reports to the VP of Old People with Money.