IT'S TILLER TIME; PURDUE FOLLOWERS ARE BELIEVERS AFTER JUST ONE SEASON.

Byline: Steve Irvine Long Beach Press-Telegram 

Joe Tiller showed up on the Purdue University campus last year with a radical idea.

The new football coach wanted an offense with four-receiver sets. He wanted to pass 40-plus times per game. And while not abandoning the run, he wanted to establish the passing game first while trying to make big plays.

This was the style Tiller wanted Purdue to play in the three-yards-and-a-cloud-dust Big Ten.

What in the name of Woody Hayes was Tiller thinking?

``There were a lot of folks that were skeptical of whether this offense could be successful in this environment,'' Tiller admitted before bringing his team to the Coliseum for Sunday's Pigskin Classic matchup against USC.

True to his nature, the 55-year-old native of Toledo, Ohio, didn't listen to the skeptics.

``He is a very unpredictable person,'' Purdue defensive end Roosevelt Colvin said.

The results were certainly unpredictable. Tiller, who left Wyoming and the pass-happy Western Athletic Conference after turning the Cowboys into a winner, led Purdue to a 9-3 record and its first bowl game since 1984.

Turns out he was a prophet when, during his first day on the job, he said: ``We're not going to take four years to figure this out.''

On Nov. 22, 1997, a year to the day he accepted the job, Purdue whipped rival Indiana 56-7 to complete the Boilermakers' best regular season since quarterback Mark Herrmann led the team to nine wins in 1979 and eight more in 1980.

Now what?

``The people who followed us last year and enjoyed it expect things and you just cringe,'' Tiller said. ``They say `Should I order my Rose Bowl tickets?' And we're not playing UCLA in the regular season.''

Winning programs, he knows, aren't built overnight. The Cowboys went 4-6-1 in Tiller's first year at Wyoming and 5-7 in his second in 1992 but didn't have another losing season.

He left Wyoming after leading the 1996 team to a 10-2 record. In his last season there, Wyoming was first in the nation in passing offense (359.2 yards per game) and third in total offense (498.2 ypg). He also coached the top two receiving yardage leaders (Marcus Harris and Ryan Yarborough) in NCAA Division I history.

``I realize the WAC is not the Big Ten, but there are certain principles that have proved to be successful no matter what the talent level is,'' Tiller said.

The talent level was definitely questionable at Purdue. The Boilermakers had finished above .500 only twice since 1981 (5-4-2 in 1994 and 7-5 in 1984). So Tiller cleaned house.

``He didn't tolerate anything,'' Colvin said. ``No matter who you were, if you messed up you were dismissed. Tiller is no nonsense and the guys caught on quick.''

It was just a matter of doing things right, Tiller said.

``We came on board not thinking we would have to clean house, but that's just the way it went,'' he said. ``You set a standard and expect anyone within the organization to measure up and if they don't, there are consequences. Many times in competitive athletics, people have a way of eliminating themselves.''

The guys who did stay promptly went out and were beaten 36-22 by Toledo. But the following week Purdue shocked No. 12 Notre Dame 28-17 to break an 11-game Irish win streak.

``We had a nothing to lose attitude against Notre Dame,'' Colvin said. ``It got us rolling. We said, `OK we can do it, we can beat a national powerhouse.' ''

Purdue won eight of the next 10, losing only to Iowa and Penn State. They ended the year with a 33-20 victory over Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl and a No. 14 ranking in the final AP poll.

``Last year we had the element of surprise,'' Tiller said. ``The fact that Purdue was down for a dozen years, players might have said they had lined up against that guy (from Purdue) for two years, whipped him and things were going to be the same.

``The schedule helped - we did not play Ohio State or Michigan. We were the least injured team I've been around. There are a lot of reasons we ended up with that kind of year.''

Record-setting quarterback Billy Dicken and receiver Brian Alford have graduated. Drew Brees, who has attempted only 43 passes, will replace Dicken. Receiver Isaac Jones is good, but he's the lone returning starter at that position and the running backs have almost no experience.

Relying on the defense, which has six returning starters and an All-American candidate in Colvin, may be required, particularly early in the season.

``Once you achieve a certain level of success, even though very brief, it's human nature to raise the bar,'' Tiller said.

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Photo

Photo: (Color) Purdue coach Joe Tiller endures the ice-bucket treatment after a win last season against rival Indiana.

Tom Strattman/Associated Press