Remembering Joe Tiller

By George Kay
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:43 PM MST

Now, don’t get me wrong; Purdue coach Joe Tiller is very much alive and well, but last week’s announcement that Tiller was giving up the Boilermakers job after one more season prompted me to reflect on his days as the Wyoming head coach.

The 65-year-old Tiller will be the Purdue head coach for one more season and then retire, after guiding the Big Ten team back to prominence in over a decade at the West Lafayette, Ind., school.

Tiller was the University of Wyoming head coach in the 1990s and coached six seasons, leading the Cowboys to a 39-30-1 record over that span. His Pokes went 10-1 in the 1996 regular season before losing to BYU in overtime in the WAC championship game in Las Vegas.

Despite that outstanding 10-2 record, the Cowboys were ignored and didn’t receive a postseason bowl invitation.

My recollections of the Joe Tiller era at UW reflect on the rather humble nature of the man. Joe had been an assistant coach under Paul Roach in Laramie before moving on to Washington State. He was Roach’s choice to take over the Wyoming program when Paul stepped down.

The choice wasn’t completely popular around the state, but Tiller accepted that and was able to deal with it. As I look back over the ranks of Cowboy coaches, it is easy to appreciate Tiller’s attitude, especially in his dealing with the media.

He was easy to talk to and was not hesitant in providing information to the press and broadcast media. In fact, you got the feeling that Joe was honest and open in his approach and not possessed of a huge ego that is sometimes common with head coaches.

When you consider the many UW coaches over my years covering the Pokes since the mid-60s, it is impossible not to rank them individually as to their availability and personality.

The toughest Wyoming coach to deal with was the late Lloyd Eaton who was a man totally in charge and rather unbending. Eaton was “the man,” and you better never forget it.

His successor was the late Fritz Shurmur, and he was like a breath of fresh air. Fritz was friendly and easy to talk with. Shurmur didn’t put himself on any pedestal that made him inaccessible.

He was always available and forthright in my dealings with him. Fritz made himself available for a pre-game interview each week and didn’t insist on a fee that was common with most head coaches.

When Fred Akers took over at UW in 1975, that changed in a hurry. Akers was colorful and good copy, but he insisted on a fee for those radio and television interviews.

When Akers bolted to Texas after two seasons in Laramie, he was followed by Bill Lewis, Pat Dye and Al Kincaid, who were generally easy to work with. Dennis Erickson took over for one season in 1986 and got the Pokes out of the triple-option and into the wide-open passing game.

Erickson was colorful and fun, but not very committed to Wyoming since he departed after just one season. Current Cowboy coach Joe Glenn is probably the most media friendly of any of the Poke head coaches. Glenn always makes one feel welcome and appreciated. It’s a rare talent that Glenn possesses.

The Paul Roach era was special with success on the field and around the state. Paul was the epitome of Cowboy football and his teams played .700 football. That made it fun for everyone involved, including the media.

Roach turned the program over to Tiller before the 1991 season and the ’96 season was certainly the highlight of that six-year tenure. I firmly believe that Tiller would have liked to stay on as the Wyoming coach, but he was denied a long-term contract by the new athletic director, Lee Moon.

That was when Joe decided to look for work elsewhere and got the Purdue job. His wide-open offensive scheme was something new to the Big Ten. The Boilermakers’ success over more than a decade made Joe Tiller a respected big-time college coach with annual trips to postseason bowl games, including a Rose Bowl trip.

One example of Tiller’s character comes to mind in connection with his Wyoming offensive coordinator, Larry Korpitz. When Tiller accepted the Purdue job after the ’96 season, he took many of the members of his UW coaching staff with him to Indiana, including Korpitz.

However, Korpitz was stricken with cancer and was unable to continue his active coaching duties. Despite that setback, Tiller kept Korpitz on his staff even though Larry was unable to leave Laramie because of his illness.

The popular coach died before he could take over the job as Tiller’s assistant. The entire episode shows the kind of loyalty that Tiller feels toward his assistant coaches.

Even though he was the Purdue head coach for more than a decade, Tiller kept his ties with Wyoming. He maintains a cabin in the Buffalo area and looks forward to spending many days in that area once his coaching days are over.

The 2008 season will be Tiller’s final year at Purdue. When he is finished there, it will be appropriate to refer to him as “Cowboy Joe Tiller,” a class act in every sense.

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