Boiler Banter: Why I Have Sympathy for Ryan Walters and Purdue Football
Anger, frustration, disappointment and ... apathy. Those are probably the emotions that best describe how fans feel about Purdue football following a dreadful 1-4 start to the season. There isn't much sympathy for Ryan Walters — although, I have to admit, that's how I feel when it comes to the 38-year-old coach.
Have you ever been hired for a job that you weren't quite prepared to handle? I have. It was my first job with a newspaper — a local government and court reporter. It took all of two weeks to realize I was in over my head, drowning in the sea of responsibilities that I was ill-equipped to tackle.
I lasted less than one month in that position. At the time, I thought I was prepared for anything and could take on hell with a squirt gun. Boy, was I wrong.
That's the position it seems that Walters is in at Purdue. He accepted a job that was too daunting, too unique and too difficult. When he was hired at the ripe-old age of 36, he wasn't aware of the challenges that come with being the head football coach in West Lafayette.
Purdue is not an easy gig. In fact, it's probably one of the most difficult jobs in the Big Ten. Just 17 games into his tenure with the Boilermakers, Walters is learning that lesson the hard way.
Criticism of Walters and his staff doesn't stem solely from a 1-4 start to the 2024 campaign — though that's reason enough. The biggest gripe is that the Boilermakers haven't even been competitive through the first five games of the season.
Since Purdue's 49-0 win over Indiana State, the Boilers have been outscored in their last four games by a grand total of 184-44. They've suffered their worst losses in program history to Notre Dame (66-7) and Wisconsin (52-6) in the same season.
A frustrated, beaten-down Walters summed up the first five games perfectly following the 46-point drubbing at the hands of the Badgers on Saturday.
"The most disappointing thing is, if I'm being completely honest, we're a bad football team right now," he said. "We're not disciplined when it gets tight, we play with poor technique when it's our turn to make a play, we get sloppy when we have to do things to make up ground."
Each week it's becoming clearer and clearer: Walters is running out of answers. That's a really concerning sign with seven games remaining on the schedule — five of which are against ranked opponents (Illinois, Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana).
I can't completely fault Walters, though. No, this isn't excusing him from Purdue's poor performance on the field. He's the head coach and it's his responsibility to have his team prepared every single week during the college football season.
That hasn't happened.
What I will excuse him for, though, is his lack of awareness of just how difficult the job is at Purdue. West Lafayette isn't a place where anyone can win. It takes a coach with a track record of success, preferably one that has experience transforming a team into a program.
At Purdue, you have to be unique, exciting and cutting edge. This isn't the type of job you hand to someone trying to launch their career. For that, Walters cannot be blamed.
Before the start of the season, fans were bought in on Walters and the future of the program. Both season and student tickets sold out, even after a 4-8 campaign in 2023. The Purdue faithful believed that the program was headed in the right direction.
Right now, Boilermaker football looks directionless. Walters carries a lot of that responsibility, but he's not solely to blame for the program's struggles.
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