Purdue Coach Ryan Walters Returns to Champaign: A Tough Journey Back

Illini aren't likely to make it a welcoming 'homecoming' for their former defensive coordinator

Purdue head coach Ryan Walters leads Purdue players as they arrive Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, ahead of the NCAA football game between Purdue and Notre Dame at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Notre Dame Fighting Irish won 66-7. / Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Ryan Walters.

And neither was the 2024 college football season supposed to be like this for his Purdue Boilermakers.

Now in his second year as head coach at Purdue, Walters – Illinois’ defensive coordinator from 2021-22 – is set to return to Champaign on Saturday for the first time as an opposing coach.

After turning the Illini into one of the top defensive teams in the country, Walters was expected to at least maintain the relative success of Purdue football under predecessor Jeff Brohm. Instead, as Walters himself told the media after the Boilermakers fell to 1-4 with last week’s 52-6 loss to Wisconsin, “We’re a bad football team right now.”

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How the state of affairs in West Lafayette ever got to this is complicated, and maybe not fully understood, but it’s safe to say that Purdue’s athletics administration and Boilermakers fans had, even by now, better results in mind when Walters was hired.

Back in Champaign, Walters quietly turned Illinois into one of the top defensive teams in the country. In his second season as defensive coordinator, the Illini led the nation in interceptions (22), ranked second in points allowed per game (12.3) and finished third in yards allowed per game (263.8). Under Walters, defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton and cornerback Devon Witherspoon were named Bednarik Award semifinalists, with Illinois joining Alabama as college football’s only two schools with multiple honorees in that category.

For his efforts, Walters was named the 2022 Defensive Coordinator of the Year by both 247 Sports and On3, which he parlayed into the Purdue job in December 2022.

Since then, things have taken a decided turn for the worse.

After a 4-8 debut season (3-6 in conference), the Boilermakers were supposed to take a step forward. Instead, they have shaped up as one of the worst Big Ten teams in recent memory, putting up a shocking -140 point differential over their last four games. Purdue’s lone win this season came against FCS opponent Indiana State in Week 1.

Illinois in recent years has been a get-well opponent for Purdue, which has won four in a row against the Illini – including a 44-19 win in West Lafayette last year, one of the high points of the season for Walters. But with the Boilers headed into Saturday’s game against Illinois as +19.5 underdogs, according to FanDuel.com, it seems likely that Purdue will be leaving behind the rivalry game's Cannon Trophy before heading back to Indiana.

At that point, Walters might find himself wishing he had stayed in Champaign, too.

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