Hope will be signed to a six-year contract, with the final five as head coach, the university said today. His appointment as head coach must be ratified by the board of trustees.

"This is a great day for Purdue football," Tiller said. "We are excited about the 2008 season and beyond. Danny is the perfect choice to take over this program."

The move to replace Tiller had been expected, and resembles the way the university replaced longtime basketball coach Gene Keady with Matt Painter after the 2004-05 season.

Hope was 35-22 in five winning seasons at Eastern Kentucky. He was an offensive line coach on Tiller's staffs at Wyoming and then Purdue, before leaving the Boilermakers after the 2001 season. In 2007, Hope led the Colonels to a 9-3 record and the Ohio Valley Conference title and was a Football Championship Subdivision Regional Coach of the Year.

Tiller came to Purdue from Wyoming in 1997 and has a record of 83-54 with the team, one win short of the record mark set by Jack Mollenkopf in 1956-69.

"I'm looking forward to being on coach Tiller's staff again," Hope said. "The years I spent at Purdue were some of the greatest of my coaching life."