Darrell Hazel has yet to coach a single game in Ross-Ade Stadium, but that hasn't stopped the enthusiasm for Purdue football under Hazel, to the tune of more season tickets sold than last season already, at least according to Mike Carmin's twitter account. 

As of Friday, #Purdue has sold 23,100 public season tickets. Sold 20,880 all of 2012.

— mike carmin (@carminjc) May 13, 2013

So, that's an improvement of 3,000 season tickets for a team that has been stuck in neutral on the field and in a vast decline in terms of attendance. 

That, no doubt, played a role in why Danny Hope was fired. Of course the 22-27 overall and 13-19 Big Ten records didn't help his cause either after four years at the helm in West Lafayette. 

For the athletic department that has to be encouraging news that saw Purdue's attendance dip from just over 50,000 in 2009 to 43,588 this past season. I don't know about you, but that'll put a dent in the 'ol pocketbook of the athletic department if I've ever seen it. 

The news coming out today also shows that Purdue fans will come out in droves to support winning football, they won't for mediocre that's for sure. 

If this momentum carries on to the field the Boilermakers may end up making it out of the bottom of the conference in attendance. Last season they ranked behind only Northwestern in average attendance figures, falling below even in-state rival Indiana's average (now that's got to hurt). 

Matt Painter is a heck of a coach and if you don't believe me, just watch some tape of the 2012-13 basketball team for all the proof you need. This was one of the youngest teams in terms of starting experience returning in the conference and I'll readily admit I thought this team was going to struggle all season long because of it. 

Instead this team punched above their weight a few times in conference play, after a less than stellar non-conference slate. In the end three players emerged as potential stars moving forward in Ronnie and Terone Johnson (yes, they are brothers) and A.J. Hammons. 

For a team that had only two players that started more than 10 games in 2011-12 there's no question the Boilers exceeded a lot of expectations. Heck, nearly finishing in the upper half of the Big Ten was a feat worthy of coach of the year consideration for me. 

That said, not everything was sunshine and roses for a team that finished below .500 in the regular season. 

Spring football is officially over and that means we continue our look at what went down across the conference this spring in our "Exit Interview" series. Up today are the Purdue Boilermakers, one of two teams making a coaching change this season and the only one to do so after firing a coach. 

Out is Danny Hope and in is Darrell Hazel. So, what's new in West Lafayette and how did spring turn out? We spoke with BoilerDowd of Boiled Sports to get the scoop on what's happening in Boilerland. We covered everything from the new faces of the program to some of the old guys too. 

Sit back and enjoy... and Boiler Up! 

The B1G Time (TBT): New era, new attitude, same ole QB questions in West Lafayette. Coming out of the spring where do things stand in terms of the QB position? Is there a battle at hand or is there a clear frontrunner?

Boiler Dowd: The clear leader is Rob Henry. Hazell won't quite say it at this point, but it looks like he'll be the guy in late August unless something drastically changes. We've gotten to see a few practices, and you can see why he is the leader- he throws the ball well, is a great leader and has a tremendous attention to detail. His mechanics have improved drastically since he arrived on campus, and he's always been a great athlete, and had the ability to scramble...that might be important since there is so much youth in the O-Line.

Purdue ushers in a new era this spring as one of just two schools in the Big Ten to change head coaches this past offseason. Gone is Hope and in is Hazell, fresh off of a banner year as the head coach at Kent State - leading them to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. 

Hope was more than a little perturbed by being let go and the timing of it all, but life for the Boilermakers moves forward and that is a good thing for a team that had a ton of talent and put that talent together with results far too little, too late to keep Hope's job in tact. 

Hazell steps into an interesting situation and things weren't completely easy for him to start off with as he had a bit of trouble putting his staff together. However, the cupboard is hardly bare and if he can get that talent to shine this could be a team worth looking out for in 2013. 

Spring will be a huge tone setter and answers will be need in a few key positions if the new look Boilermakers are to come out of spring on a positive note. All of this will play out in front of the watchful eyes of the public as all practices are open to the general public to witness.

They say hell hath no furry like that of a woman scorned.... Perhaps they should amend that one a bit after what ex-Purdue football head coach Danny Hope unleashed on a West Lafayette TV interview on Tuesday night. According to the report it wasn't Hope's 22-27 record, but rather declining ticket sales and the suites behind the scene that led to his firing. 

So, what exactly did this man say? Well, there was this gem about accountability of AD Morgan Burke: 

"I know it wasn't an easy thing for Morgan to do," Hope said to West Lafayette TV station WLFI. "But I felt like if he had been a little more accountable then he would not have had to ... exercised the responsibility of dismissing me. We had finished strong. And the players wanted us to be there. We hoped we had done enough. But I knew it was close. We had a tough stretch there and didn't come through at a critical time of the season and, obviously, had lost the support of our administration."

He first began the interview by talking about how declining ticket sales were to blame though:

"It came down to ticket sales," said Hope. "But ticket sales have been dropping here since 2000. It's not all about what happens just behind the whistle. You have to have some accountability behind the necktie as well."

The outcome of the Heart of Dallas Bowl was never in question.

Much to chagrin, but perhaps not the surprise, of Big Ten fans Purdue ended up on the short side of a 58-14 contest with Oklahoma State.

3 Thumbs up:

-OSU’s offense was pretty efficient in this one. They protected the football and picked apart Purdue’s defense with a sharp passing attack. Thankfully, the Cowboys didn’t hang up 100 on the Boilermakers, mostly due to the fact that the Pokes had to settle for a field goal in a few occasions. It could always be worse, well…maybe.  

...more after jump....

Lost in all the scuttlebutt surrounding the shocking moves around Madison this week was the fact that Purdue may have grabbed the sneaky-good hire within Wisconsin's own division as they announced Darrell Hazell as the man to replace the fired Danny Hope. 

Of course there's the usual mix of trepidation, excitement, and wait and see attitudes amongst all fans no matter the hire. So, after a few days to think about things we reached out to our friends at Boiled Sports to get their thoughts on the hire and the state of Purdue football heading forward. 

Delany's Dozen: A few big time names seemed to be flirting with this job, in the end what do you make of the process as a whole?

Rarely do teams completely change or forsake its identity when the chips are down on the table in the NCAA Tournament. With every team, really, you know exactly what type of game to expect and the signs if they might lose.

It was evident pretty early on that Joey Rodriguez and VCU was going to roll into the Sweet Sixteen. What made this game so shocking was how out of character Purdue played. The usually tough defense was non existent. JaJuan Johnson, the Big Ten player of the year, became non-existent. VCU dictated an up-tempo pace.

It was completely out of character for Purdue, which was a team more than a few people likely had going to the Elite Eight and possibly the Final Four. There were big expectations for this team.

To see the Boilermakers fall flat like this was startling. A look at the Four Factors reveals how badly Purdue got beat:

The numbers show the Boilermakers did not play that poorly on offense. They got to the basket, generally made shots and hit the offensive glass. What was so out of character was the poor defensive numbers throughout the game.

The Boilermakers gave up 52 points in the second half, unable to gain enough steam to make a serious dent in the Rams' 10-point halftime lead. Purdue was never in the game after halftime. StatSheet.com delcared the game statistically over with 3:30 remaining in the game. Quite the upset.