Why Barry Odom is the right guy to restore Purdue football
The Boilers were 1-11 in 2024. They have 82 new players. Their schedule is brutal. Odom is unfazed. “I like the fact that Barry’s got some callouses on him,” AD Mike Bobinski tells The Inside Zone.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Barry Odom was talking about what ended up being his last week as UNLV’s coach when he let slip a subtle reminder of all he had accomplished in Sin City.
His Rebels were preparing for the Mountain West Conference title game at Boise State. Black Sunday had just passed, and Purdue was among the many schools in need of a new coach. At least four different programs with openings reached out to Odom’s representatives to gauge his interest, and Odom made his stance with his agent clear.
“I said I want to push everything off until after our championship game, and then if we win the game, we're in the playoffs,” Odom told The Inside Zone. “So my plan is we're going to win the game and chase the pursuit of being in the playoffs.”
It may be easy to forget some nine months later, but yes, the man Purdue has tasked with digging its football program out a hole indeed had UNLV, of all places, on the brink of a postseason berth.
Boise State ended up beating UNLV in that league title game, expediting Odom’s coaching free agency. But the Rebels entered as just 4-point underdogs, and they were No. 20 in that week’s College Football Playoff rankings, behind only the Broncos among Group of 5 programs. Had they won, they would have been in, and who knows how patient Purdue or another suitor would have been?
If Odom could make the league title game twice in two years at UNLV — a program that had posted just two above .500 seasons this century, and 10 in its 45-year Division I history before his arrival — what could he do at Purdue, which is just three years removed from playing for the Big Ten title?
If he could go 19-8 at a place that counts as many famous football alums in TV and entertainment (Kenny Mayne, Suge Knight) as it does in the pros (Randall Cunningham, Keenan McCardell), what could he do at the Cradle of Quarterbacks?