Athletic director Mike Bobinski addresses Purdue football coach search
Purdue is in search of a head football coach after Ryan Walters was fired on Sunday. Hear what athletic director Mike Bobinski said on Monday.
Purdue football’s coaching search is expected to unfold quickly, with the possibility of a hire by early next week.
We’ll continue to monitor those names most attached to the Boilermakers, zeroing in on the leaders as we gather more intel.
One name almost everyone speculated about might be off the board already. Multiple reports have linked Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell to the vacancy at UCF.
Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said the groundwork for the coaching search began in the final weeks of the regular season. He also said an executive search firm is being used behind the scenes for background and logistical assistance.
Some names still buzzing in the early stages of the search, with a lean towards those who have done this before:
HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE
Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky coach
Hey, it worked last time. The comparisons to Jeff Brohm are inevitable. Helton’s success with the Hilltoppers stands on its own, though. They advanced to a bowl in each of his five seasons, winning four, and with another postseason trip coming after an 8-4 season. His offense went more balanced this season, but in the previous three, it ranked second, third and sixth, respectively, in pass attempts per game with QBs Austin Reed and Bailey Zappe. Also had coordinator/QB coach stints at USC and Tennessee, so he’s not a Group of Five lifer.
Football Scoop reported “internal support” for Helton at Purdue. He was a finalist for the job two years ago.
Jeff Monken, Army coach
FootballScoop also reported Monken’s “definite interest” in the position, even quoting someone who’d recently spoken to him as saying “He has a plan” for Purdue. Army this season reached double-digit wins for the third time since 2007. It’s also a place with high academic standards, recruiting limitations and is accustomed to winning without industry leading resources. He’s also a central Illinois native, growing up a couple of hours from Tippecanoe County, for what that’s worth.
Jon Sumrall, Tulane coach
Bobinski did not dismiss hiring a coach with a defensive background, and guys like Sumrall explain why. He’s 32-7 in three years at Troy and Tulane. This season the Green Wave gave Kansas State and Oklahoma competitive games and they’ll play for the AAC championship. (To be fair, he inherited Willie Fritz’s successful foundation.) For those worried about the defensive-minded background: Tulane ranks sixth nationally in scoring and 17th in yards per play.
Jason Candle, Toledo coach
There may be a rule that every non-blue blood head coaching job or upper-echelon offensive coordinator opening must come with Candle’s name speculatively attached. This season’s 7-5 regression took some of the shine off, but the Rockets won 20 games combined the previous two seasons. Has been at Toledo for a decade, but is only 45, giving him a combination of experience and the potential for longevity.
Barry Odom, UNLV coach
Can the hot board for any Power Four opening right now omit Odom? He’s also been mentioned as a potential consideration for the vacancies at North Carolina and West Virginia. He was fired after four seasons at Missouri — but did not have a losing season in the past three — and spent three seasons as Sam Pittman’s defensive coordinator at Arkansas. UNLV is 19-7 in his two seasons with two conference championship game appearances and might finish in the AP Top 25 for the first time. As in, ever.
Chip Kelly, Ohio State offensive coordinator
More notable for his work as head coach of Oregon, UCLA, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, obviously. A betting site gives Kelly the second-best odds to get the job. I’m skeptical. He walked away from UCLA in part because of the extra rigors expected of head coaches these days. He also has enough cache to wait for a higher profile job — or at least one which doesn’t involve rebuilding from a 1-11 season.
Dan Mullen, former Florida coach
Paul Chryst, former Wisconsin coach
I’m putting them together because, while they don’t necessarily share a background, both can be judged against some of the search considerations Bobinski cited Monday. Specifically, the idea of finding a coach who embraces “a new way of thinking” as it relates to name, image and likeness compensation and the transfer portal. A lot has changed in the short time since either of these coaches led a program. Both won at upper-tier programs (depending on your definition of those terms). Would these coaches and others who’d been out of the game for a minute, though, be able to jump right into a roster rebuild and help craft Purdue’s NIL strategy from Day 1?
Matt Campbell, Iowa State coach
We’re going to leave this name up here to represent the sort of big swing Purdue should take. Iowa State is playing Arizona State this weekend in the Big 12 championship game, which would complicate the timeline. (That did not deter Bobinski from hiring Brohm after zeroing in on him in 2016.) Ultimately, though, this might be the sort of interest that earns him a well-deserved raise to stay in Ames, rather than taking over a rebuild on an 11-game losing streak.
Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
Maybe the 64-66 record isn’t impressive, but Martin has taken the Redhawks to five bowl games and has recruited Indiana well. Prior to making the jump to FBS, Martin succeeded Brian Kelly at Division II Grand Valley State, where he went 74-7 in six seasons and made three appearances in the NCAA Division II national championship game, winning twice. That earned him a job on Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame, where he eventually became offensive coordinator before taking the Miami job in 2014.
Brent Vigen, Montana State
Remember Joe Tiller? Of course you do. He was living in the openness of Wyoming succeeding with an innovative offense before he came to Purdue and did the same. Vigen is 44-9 as a head coach at FCS Montana State and the Bobcats have been ranked eighth or higher in the final coaches poll each season under Vigen. A successful five-year run as Wyoming’s offensive coordinator helped Vigen land a head coaching job and he also was on the staff of FCS powerhouse and his alma mater North Dakota State from 1998-2013, rising from grad assistant to offensive coordinator. This feels like a reach, but Bobinski did say Purdue is keeping an open mind to find the best candidate.
RISING COORDINATORS
JaMarcus Shephard, Alabama assistant head coach
Maybe Purdue needs the stability of a former head coach who will not need to learn on the fly about hiring a staff and organizing a program. It also needs talent, and there might not be any candidate mentioned so far who could bring more immediate energy to the program.
Will Stein, Oregon offensive coordinator
He’s only 35, and seven years ago, he was still Hudson Card’s quarterback coach at Lake Travis (Texas) High School. That sounds like he falls outside of the ideal parameters for Purdue’s current situation. However, there’s a reason Dan Lanning picked him as his first offensive coordinator at Oregon, and things are going very well there.
Brennan Marion, UNLV offensive coordinator
UNLV’s go-go offense is fun and exciting, the kind of thing Purdue fans can get behind. The Rebels are in the Mountain West championship game after going 10-2 and averaging nearly 39 points per game. At 37, he’s still young but has experience on staffs at Texas, Hawaii, Pitt and Arizona State. Intriguing, but it may be a leap.
