New Purdue AD’s ‘Go to Indiana’ Jab Backfires Amid Boilermakers’ Football Struggles

Purdue introduced Tommy McClelland as its new athletic director on Thursday, and within minutes of stepping to the podium, he handed Indiana fans a gift. “We are here to win championships,” McClelland said during his introductory press conference. “If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana.” The line was almost certainly meant as a lighthearted rivalry jab, but given the current state of the two programs, it detonated instantly across college football social media and national outlets.

McClelland arrives at Purdue with a mandate to rebuild an athletic department that has struggled across multiple fronts, football chief among them. He takes over a Boilermakers program that has won just seven games total over its last three seasons, including a lone win in 2024. Indiana, meanwhile, is seven months removed from claiming its first-ever national championship in program history under head coach Curt Cignetti, who has turned the Hoosiers into one of the sport’s fastest-rising powers. The timing of McClelland’s comment, whether intended as a joke or not, ran directly counter to the facts on the ground.

A Rivalry Jab That Missed Badly

Purdue senior associate athletic director Patrick Crawford later described McClelland’s remark as being made “in good humor,” acknowledging the new AD is well aware of the intensity of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry. But the joke landed poorly given the Old Oaken Bucket results of the last two seasons. In 2024, Cignetti’s first season in Bloomington, Indiana throttled Purdue 66-0, outgaining the Boilermakers 582-67 in total yardage and forcing five turnovers while allowing just five first downs. Last season, Indiana followed that up with a 56-3 win over Purdue to close out a perfect 12-0 regular season, the program’s first unbeaten regular season in its history. Combined, Indiana has outscored Purdue 122-3 across the last two meetings, and Cignetti is 2-0 against the Boilermakers since taking over in Bloomington.

Purdue, by contrast, went 1-11 in 2024 and finished 2-10 last season, posting back-to-back winless campaigns in Big Ten play. Bleacher Report and Athlon Sports both flagged the poor timing of McClelland’s comment, noting Indiana is barely half a year removed from winning the national title. The IndyStar noted that Purdue does have some recent bright spots to point to elsewhere in the athletic department — the men’s basketball team reached the national championship game in 2024, and the volleyball program advanced to the Elite Eight in December — but on the football field specifically, the numbers make McClelland’s dig a difficult one to defend.

Fallout and What Comes Next

Reaction was swift once video of the comment, shared by outlets including the Big Ten Network and On3, began circulating. Purdue fans largely embraced the trash talk in the spirit it was intended, while Indiana supporters seized on the obvious gap between the AD’s rhetoric and his own program’s on-field results. Sports media outlets ran with headlines calling the remark “bizarre” and “odd,” with some pieces questioning whether anyone reviewed McClelland’s prepared remarks before he took the podium.

For McClelland, the introductory press conference was supposed to set a tone of accountability and championship expectations for Purdue athletics going forward — and in fairness, that part of the message wasn’t lost. But the Indiana line will likely follow him into his first football season on the job, one where Purdue will need to show real improvement just to get back to competitive footing in the Big Ten, let alone match the standard Cignetti has set 60 miles down the road. Bettors weighing early win totals and conference odds this fall can find context in our college football betting guide as both programs kick off preseason camp under very different expectations. The next Old Oaken Bucket meeting is scheduled for November 28, 2026, and after two blowouts, Purdue will be looking for any sign it can close the gap McClelland just publicly widened.