Will Odom Raise Purdue’s Batting Average on Recent Hires to .500?
Remember when Darrell Hazell was a home run hire for the Purdue football program?
“Hazell produced one of the more remarkable feats of 2012, leading Kent State to not only its first bowl game in 40 years but also an 11-win season and MAC championship game appearance,” Stuart Mandel, then with SI.com, wrote. “Hazell … spent seven seasons at Ohio State under Jim Tressel, which should equip him well for a Big Ten job. The only slight hesitation is that Purdue is putting a lot of stock in two seasons of head coaching.”
That stock crashed in 2016, when Hazell was fired with a 9-39 record.
Or when the hiring of first-time head coach Ryan Walters was praised by the national media?
“Walters has emerged as one of college football’s rising stars in the defensive coaching ranks … building an Illinois defense that finished No. 1 nationally in the fewest points allowed per game (12.8) in 2022,” Steve Lassen of AthlonSports.com wrote. “His familiarity with the Big Ten West will help ease his transition in 2023.”
Or maybe not. Walters became the first Purdue football head coach since Elmer Burnham in 1943 to depart after just two seasons. Walters was given a $9 million severance package on top of his $1 million salary as the University of Washington’s new defensive coordinator.
(A side note: Burnham wasn’t fired. He led the Boilermakers to a 9-0 record in 1943 with the help of Navy and Marine Corps trainees. Burnham parlayed that season into more money and job security as associate professor of physical education and head football coach at the University of Rochester. He’s one reason why Purdue has a multigenerational reputation of being cheap.)
Maybe you remember when Jeff Brohm was regarded as one of the two best head coaching hires in 2017, alongside Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck?
“Brohm’s hire was a terrific move by the Boilermakers, who’d very much like to make some noise in the Big Ten,” SI.com declared.
“The hiring of Brohm suggests a throwback to the days of Joe Tiller revolutionizing the Big Ten with spread offense and some guy named Drew Brees,” Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com wrote at the time. “Brohm has similar upside having developed Brandon Doughty and Mike White at Western Kentucky.”
Dodd was correct. Brohm developed David Blough and Aidan O’Connell into NFL quarterbacks. During his final two seasons before returning home to the University of Louisville in 2023, Brohm led Purdue to 17 victories, a Music City Bowl triumph against Tennessee and a Big Ten West Division title.
One out of three isn’t bad if you play Major League Baseball. A career batting average of .333 is a lock to earn a Hall of Fame plaque at Cooperstown.
But when millions of dollars are at stake, athletic directors and college presidents can’t miss on two of every three hires.
Purdue hopes Barry Odom raises its football hiring batting average to .500. Odom made the honor roll of the 2025 hires in the opinion of two national media organizations.
Odom gets an A from Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports, who ranked the former UNLV coach fourth on his offseason hires list behind Rich Rodriguez’s return to West Virginia, Bronco Mendenhall to Utah State and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Belichick to North Carolina.
“After guiding UNLV to its best two-year stretch in program history and back-to-back trips to the Mountain West Championship Game, Odom landed his second chance at a power conference job,” Lassan writes. “The task of turning around Purdue is steep after the program went 5-19 over the last two years. However, Odom’s ties to the Midwest, along with his growth as a head coach since his stint at Missouri, should make this a home run hire for the Boilermakers.”
The Athletic’s Ralph D. Russo gave Purdue an A-minus.
“After whiffing badly on first-time head coach Ryan Walters, Purdue was smart to bring in a coach with six years’ experience,” Russo writes. “And while his Missouri tenure was mixed (25-25, with a peak of 8-5), he just engineered a remarkable turnaround at longtime doormat UNLV, … which finished ranked for the first time in school history. That will come in handy at rebuilding Purdue.”
If Odom is able to pull off a UNLV-like rebuild, he’ll need help from athletic director Mike Bobinski in coming up with an easier schedule. Watching Indiana skate to the College Football Playoffs against a slate of Hostess Cupcakes should be a model to follow.
Athlon Sports ranks Purdue’s 2025 football schedule the second-toughest in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin. The good news is the Boilermakers should at least double last season’s win total, opening at home against Ball State and Southern Illinois.
There was a time when fans looked forward to the annual matchup with Notre Dame. Now, playing the Fighting Irish makes no sense other than to boost the athletic department’s bank account. The Sept. 20 matchup in South Bend comes after USC visits Ross-Ade Stadium the week before.
Illinois is coming off a 10-win season and a Citrus Bowl victory. Trips to Minnesota and Northwestern aren’t gimmes. Rutgers has been a thorn in Purdue’s side in both football and men’s basketball since joining the Big Ten.
November could be a miserable month for Purdue with a trip to Michigan followed by a home game with reigning national champion Ohio State. A bye week follows the Boilermakers’ visit to Washington, and Indiana comes to Ross-Ade for Senior Day on Nov. 29.
Indiana has the Big Ten’s fourth-easiest schedule according to Athlon Sports. Trips to Iowa, Oregon and Penn State will likely deny the Hoosiers back-to-back 11-win seasons. But, IU gets Illinois and Wisconsin at home and avoids Michigan and Ohio State. The non-conference slate has three Twinkies in Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State.
NFL Draft hopeful
If one NFL Draft analyst is correct, Purdue will continue its run of alumni hearing their name called during the three-day event April 24-26 at Green Bay.
Offensive lineman Marcus Mbow is 66th on The Athletic’s Top 100 NFL Draft prospects list. If the 6-4, 309-pound Mbow is indeed drafted, it will mark six consecutive seasons and 28 out of the last 29 NFL Drafts to include a Boilermaker.
“Some of his strength and anchor concerns popped up during one-on-ones at the Senior Bowl, but Mbow will regain some of his draft momentum after he tests at the combine,” Dane Brugler writes. “His fluid footwork and body adjustments allow him to mirror rushers and operate well in space. Some teams are keeping him at tackle on their boards, while others like him best inside at guard or even center.”
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.