Mitch Daniels was at Purdue's Final Four in 1980. He'll be there again: 'It is our time.'
WEST LAFAYETTE -- Mitch Daniels was a young, ambitious political up and comer and chief of staff to Sen. Richard Lugar when he and a couple other staff members took a break from the grind of Washington politics to drink a few beers and watch some really good basketball in the land where basketball was king.
Inside Market Square Arena 44 years ago, Daniels had no real connection to Purdue University, other than it was an Indiana school -- where he grew up -- who had made it to the Final Four and was fighting to win its first NCAA title. Truth be told, he was more of an IU and Butler fan at the time.
Daniels watched as UCLA dashed the Boilermakers dreams with a 67-62 win in March 1980. He was disappointed, but life would go on for the Princeton graduate who seemed to have a golden touch.
For the next four decades, Daniels went on to have a polished business career and a stellar political one that included being the White House director of intergovernmental affairs for President Ronald Reagan, director of the office of management and budget for President George W. Bush and two-term governor of Indiana.
And when Daniels' much-anticipated decision on whether he would run for president in 2012 ended with him leaving the governor's office not for Washington D.C. but for West Lafayette to become president at Purdue University, his love of sports catapulted to a whole new level.
During his 10 years at Purdue, Daniels attended every football game, almost every home basketball game and every other sport at least once a season. Needless to say, the black and gold seeped deeply into his soul.
As Daniels sits inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., this weekend to see his beloved Boilers play North Carolina State in their first Final Four in 44 years, he will be among Purdue's most adamant and diehard fans.
But he has to be honest. That 44 number? It irks him a bit.
"I was so tired of hearing, 'It's been 44 years since we've been to a Final Four,'" Daniels, 74, said as he sat inside the Dauch Alumni Center on Wednesday morning on Purdue's campus. "It makes it sound like Purdue has been sort of in the wilderness. No, the whole story is we've been great."
When Daniels started hearing that number, he sent Purdue's athletic director Mike Bobinski a note, telling him that this is the week "people need to find out what they don't know." Purdue is the first Big Ten program to be ranked No. 1 for three consecutive seasons. It has more Big Ten wins in history than any other school and it has more Big Ten titles -- 26. Daniels wants people to hear those numbers.
"This is not some school that's been downtrodden and finally got a good team. We're the school that's been right on the edge over and over and something (happens), just bad luck," he said. "Robbie Hummel tears up his knee. The Virginia game was an act of God. I mean, we were in the Final Four. We were there. I'll never get over that."
Daniels was at that Elite Eight game between Purdue and eventual champion Virginia in 2019, a game that has been called "one of the greatest games in the history of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament" and a "cruel ending" for Purdue. He was there watching Purdue lose, seemingly in slow motion, in the final moments.
"If he makes it, we win. He misses. If we just grab the ball, we win," Daniels said, rambling as this game still gets him pretty upset. "Gets knocked down the other end. If, if, if, if, if, if, you know. Like eight things had to go wrong. Ask any Virginia fan, they know it was just the most ridiculous ending ever. "You know, my last day on earth, I'll be thinking about it. Not only would we have gone to the Final Four, I think we would have won."
March 1980: Inside Market Square Arena
When Daniels learned he'd be talking to IndyStar about the 1980 Final Four he attended, memories came back. On a tiny, torn off piece of lined paper, Daniels had written down a few things he didn't want to forget.
"I started thinking about it and then I went back and looked and there's some spooky interesting stuff to me," he said. "There's so many connections and all of that. It's just crazy."
One of them was the UCLA coach Purdue lost to in that Final Four. It was Larry Brown, who went on to coach for the Pacers. To get to the Final Four, No. 6 seed Purdue had to beat second-seeded IU in the tournament's Sweet Sixteen. They did 76-69, the only time the teams have played in the NCAA tournament.
The victory by Purdue was against virtually the same IU team that won the NCAA tournament in 1981. Daniels was there for that Final Four, too. But that championship game was on March 30, 1981, the same day President Ronald Reagan was shot. There was some talk about not playing the game at all or postponing it. Instead, the tourney went on.
Looking back, Daniels said, 1980 was the turning point where the NCAA tournament really took off.
"Market Square Arena could never have it today. It's not big enough. That was a real basketball gym, not a football arena," he said. "For sure it was packed, but it wasn't the ridiculous, you know, kind of Super Bowl-type ticket it is these days."
Tickets for the entire session in 1980 cost $30 each or $15 per game. Today, to attend all three games would cost more than $1,000 and that's for mediocre seats. There were 48 teams in 1980. Today there are 68.
Daniels, 30 at the time, came to that Final Four with two other Lugar staff members, Lou Gerig and Mark Lubbers, who happened to have been a Purdue student president. They were a tightknit group and one of the youngest staffs in Washington.
"My view and recollection as a Purdue fan who had been stuck in D.C. for three years drowning in all that ACC (crap) is that the Final Four was an afterthought," said Lubbers. "Our season could not be improved on after beating IU (Sweet Sixteen) and then beating Duke (Elite Eight). Winning the national championship would have been anticlimactic."
'I feel like it's superstition'
As Gerig sat next to Daniels on Wednesday, being the ever-quiet public relations man he has been during his own illustrious political career, he speaks up when asked about Purdue's chances in the Final Four, especially against Connecticut should they make it to the championship game.
"Well, I think they're the two best teams," said Gerig, who served as a press assistant to White House Press Secretary Jim Brady during the Reagan administration and is president of Sease, Gerig & Associates. "You know, if anybody can beat them, I think it's Purdue."
Daniels agreed and said if Purdue makes it to the final game, he suspects UConn will be favored, but not my much, maybe three, four or five points. "I look forward to finding out."
And he looks forward to being in Arizona at the second Purdue Final Four in 44 years. Being there in person is really the only way to go for Daniels. If he's not able to attend a game, he tapes it instead of watching it live on television.
"I feel like it's superstition. I feel like when I watch them on television, bad things happen. I'm telling you they do," Daniels said. "I will be watching and we'll be playing poorly. I'll turn it off, you know, and ten minutes later I turn it on and immediately the other team will make a 3 or we will turn the ball over or something."
For Purdue's win over Tennessee on Sunday, Daniels checked the score and waited until he was certain the Boilermakers had a victory. He turned the game on with a minute left, watched Edey cut down the net and 44 years flashed before his eyes. "So, I got to see that win," he said, adding he has watched the recording of the game several times since. "It was so overdue. It is our time."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mitch Daniels was at Purdue's Final Four in 1980. He'll be there again
