I think Purdue has hired a great recruiter. I cannot remember when a 2nd year foot ball coach at Purdue has landed these quality recruits. I understand this is his 1st head coaching job at a Division 1 college. I understand he will make some mistakes but I am sure he will learn his job and be successful. Many of you "so called" Purdue fans are going to criticize him unmerciful at times during next season. But we ALL have to understand that 2024 Purdue Football has one of the toughest schedules in all of Division 1 football. Notre Dame does NOT even play a schedule as tough as Purdue. For Walters to go 6-6 next year will be a major triumph for Division 1 coaching.
GP PURDUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are like 3 dudes here who aggrandize the previous coach and decided Walters was terrible immediately when the hire was announced. For the most part folks are willing to let him have a shot to get his guys and see what he can do.
Looking forward to next year with a more experienced QB, an actual division 1 OL, and year 2 of the defense install.
Not disagreeing. 30 years ago, you could adapt to that plan, measure improvement, and let a coach grow. The money and the league quality make that harder today. Will Walters Purdue be allowed to be patient, why not, because changing head coaches is always a crap shoot?
The one example who comes to mind is Barry Alverez and Wisconsin. He went 1-10, 5-6, 5-6 before striking the mother load in the Rose Bowl. (he went 97-50 after that). He was a first time head coach, needed to develop his style in developing players, and identity on offense (he was a defensive coach prior), and then recruit his specifications. But he also had the advantage of not having to recruit against ND and another in-state rival like IU to keep the state's best at home, which helped him develop his OL pipeline.
The money and NIL may be making the patience less tolerable, requiring someone with more head coaching experience; but the transfer portal lets you cover recruiting losses, but it can't be losing good guys and gaining good guys on a 1 to 1 ratio. Can the coach maintain loyalty in players who are also patient?
Tiller got around that by:
* Recruiting diamonds in the rough and underrecruited athletes, with plans to change their position
* Utilizing grey-shirting to give underdeveloped diamonds and extra year of growth before starting college
* Establishing a decent Junior college path/farm system with 2-3 JUCO programs to either place recruits that needed more playing time, or find 3-4 key starters or critical depth guys.
* Higher a few coaches loyal to the program and had been here - like Sprack
But Tiller brought some head coaching experience, player personnel experience in the CFL, and an entire staff. Broham had some of the similar identity as Tiller, and was good to his assistants who were loyal.
Let's hope Coach Walters is able to develop his coaching station desirability.
Alverez Record first 4 years