What to know about Purdue's football coach search
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Purdue's Ryan Walters era ends after just two seasons. Photo: James Black/Getty Images
As the best Big Ten football teams prepare for battle, Purdue is once again starting from the bottom.
Why it matters: The chip ousted head coach Ryan Walters talked about being on his team's shoulder at the start of the season was heavy enough to pull them down to their worst performance in a decade with a 1-11 record.
- And with the Big Ten now boasting 18 teams, the Boilers are looking at an even bigger climb back to relevancy.
State of play: Putting more pressure on Purdue is that fact their biggest rival — and the team that handed them their most embarrassing loss of the season in the final game — pulled off a miraculous zero-hero comeback in Bloomington with a first-year head coach.
What they're saying: Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski wants to find a new coach sooner rather than later, and he claims cash won't be a barrier to courting the right candidate.
- He told reporters Monday that he expected to hire a new coach within seven to 10 days.
- "We're going to pay what we need to pay in order to get the very best head coach and the very best staff. That's going to be what it takes," Bobinski said.
Yes, but: Bobinski also fielded questions about why Purdue fans should have more faith in his ability to bring the right coach to the program considering his support of Walters as Jeff Brohm's replacement in 2022.
- "If you do this long enough, and I've done it for 40-plus years, every once in a while you take an L," he said. "If people would go back and look a little bit, I haven't missed on everyone that we've (hired) over the course of my career."
Flashback: Under Walters, the Boilermakers went 5-19 in two seasons.
- The last time Purdue had a single-win season was in 2013 under Darrell Hazell.
Zoom in: With the search in full swing, here are names that keep coming up in the conversation.
- Winner of two Sun Belt titles at Troy, Sumrall led the Green Wave to an impressive 9-3 record in 2024 during his first year as a head coach in the AAC.
Western Kentucky coach Tyson Helton
- A top candidate for the Purdue coaching job two years ago, Helton has won four bowl games as coach of the Hilltoppers and led his team to an 8-4 record in 2024.
- Army went from winning eight games in three seasons to having three consecutive 10-win seasons under Monken, so he knows how to help a football program bounce back.
Ohio University coach Tim Albin
- Albin has an overall record of 32-19 at Ohio and has won two bowl games in his four seasons at the helm.
- A name that has also come up for other coaching jobs, Odom led UNLV's football program to its first top 25 ranking.
- Rumored to be taking the open job at UCF, Chadwell has led the Flames to 21 wins in two seasons, including an undefeated regular season that ended with a Fiesta Bowl loss to Oregon in 2023.
- Candle has been head coach at Toledo since 2015 and many consider him ready to make the move to the Big Ten from the MAC.