SCHERERVILLE | Joe Tiller will retire in about 8 1/2 months, but that hasn't kept Purdue's football coach from trying to drum up support for the game he loves.

Tiller, his eventual successor, Danny Hope, and defensive coordinator Brock Spack were among the coaches representing the Boilermakers who were at Teibel's Restaurant on Tuesday night for a meeting with area high school football coaches.

Tiller was trying to garner the support of area coaches for the National Football Foundation's Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana. The chapter, a non-profit organization, has awarded more than $44,000 in grants, scholarships and honorariums since receiving its charter in the fall of 2004.

"The whole organization is about supporting football at the grassroots level," Tiller said, before speaking to a couple dozen area head and assistant coaches.

The NFF is trying to lay the groundwork now to stir interest and membership in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, so it can start awarding scholarship money to deserving scholar-athletes beginning in 2009.

Munster football coach Leroy Marsh, Valparaiso coach Mark Hoffman, former Merrillville coach Jeff Yelton, former Crown Point and Highland football coach Brad Smith, and John Friend, the acting athletic director at Purdue-Calumet, are involved.

The group has joined forces with Tiller, Hope, chapter President Bart Burrell and NFF Executive Director, Jim Vruggink, to break ground in Northwest Indiana.

"I think it's important to set the foundation in the right direction," Marsh said. "I think our job is to get local businesses and citizens involved who like football, and give them an avenue to support football in general. I like the idea of kids getting honored as scholar-athletes who aren't necessarily Division I football players.

"I see nothing but positive things coming out of the organization, because they do a lot for kids."

Vruggink said $16,000 to $17,000 was awarded in scholarship money last year. He said 23 scholarships will be awarded this year.

According to Tiller, the NFF is involved with the sport from the introductory level to the college level.

Vruggink said one of the keys is to find scholarship sponsors from businesses in a student-athlete's area.

Hoffman, who became a charter member of the Indianapolis chapter nearly 13 years ago, and will become a member here, has nominated seven student-athletes. Five of them, including former players like Matt (Yale) and Kyle Hanson (Princeton) were awarded scholarship money.

"It's a great organization that does things right, and it's all for the kids," Hoffman said. "They don't even have to play football to receive scholarship money, but most do. When you have people like Joe Tiller and the Indianapolis Colts' organization involved, you can't go wrong."