Brock Spack on potentially returning to Purdue as head coach: ‘I don't see it happening'

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Brock Spack seems like one of the logical candidates — perhaps the most logical candidate — for the Purdue head-coaching job just vacated by the firing of Darrell Hazell.

But the current Illinois State coach doesn't envision him moving back to the program where he played and where he was an assistant for a combined decade and a half.

"I don't see it happening," Spack said earlier this week, his quotes published by the Pantagraph. "I've kind of moved on from that a long time ago."

Spack was a Purdue linebacker in the early 1980s. He was Purdue's defensive backs coach from 1991 to 1994 under Jim Colletto, and he was the Boilermakers' defensive coordinator under Joe Tiller from 1997 to 2008.

Purdue had a couple chances to make Spack the head coach, opting for Danny Hope after Tiller's tenure ended and then picking Hazell ahead of the 2013 season. Hope's teams posted one winning record in four seasons, and Hazell was fired last weekend after amassing just nine wins in three and a half seasons.

Spack has been the head coach at Illinois State since the 2009 season, posting a 59-33 record and leading the Redbirds to three FCS playoff appearances, including a trip to the national title game in 2014.

"I'm not anticipating any," Spack said, on if there'd been any contact from his alma mater. "I just don't see Purdue going after an FCS head coach right now. It's difficult for me. It's the same record that keeps playing over and over again. I don't think it's healthy for me to go through all that stuff, so I don’t really think about it."

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