Purdue has fired coach Ryan Walters after two seasons, the school announced on Sunday. The Boilermakers finished their season with a 66-0 loss to rival Indiana on Saturday to finish the season 1-11 without a win against FBS competition. The loss dropped the Boilermakers to 5-19 throughout Walters’ two seasons at the helm, including a mark of 3-15 in Big Ten play. CBS Sports first reported the news of Walters’ firing on Sunday morning.
Walters was hired to replace Jeff Brohm prior to the 2024 season. He’s spent the previous two seasons as defensive coordinator at Illinois and led one of the best defenses in the country in 2022, which helped the Illini go 8-5, their best season since winning nine games in 2007. Unfortunately, Walters was not able to bring that same defensive performance with him east to West Lafayette, Indiana.
In his two seasons, the Boilermakers allowed an average of 35.2 points per game and allowed at least 40 points in eight of 24 games. This season alone Purdue has played five games against teams likely to be selected for the College Football Playoff (Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State) and was outscored 261-17 in those five games.
It’s a deficit that may have been more acceptable, but the Boilermakers didn’t fare much better against the rest of their schedule, either. Of their 19 losses under Walters, only five came by fewer than two scores.
While the defense was a serious issue, there wasn’t any success on the offensive side of the ball to offset it, either. Walters fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell earlier this season and took over playcalling duties on offense himself initially. While there was early success as the Boilermakers put up 49 points against Illinois in defeat, it was…
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