Purdue Fires Coach Ryan Walters Following 1-11 Season
Purdue has fired football coach Ryan Walters, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The school made the decision following the Boilermakers' 1-11 season in 2024, one of the worst years in program history. Purdue dropped its season finale to Indiana on Saturday to end the year.
Things have looked bleak in West Lafayette since a 49-0 victory over Indiana State in the season opener on Aug. 31. Purdue lost 11 straight games under Walters, with several of those losses coming in blowout fashion. The Boilermakers currently own the longest losing streak in Power Four football.
The final nail in the coffin came on Saturday night, as the Boilermakers suffered an embarrassing 66-0 loss to No. 10 Indiana in the Old Oaken Bucket Game at Memorial Stadium. It was the worst loss in program history. It was also the third time this season Purdue had been shutout, also losing 35-0 to Oregon and 45-0 to Ohio State.
Walters ends his time at Purdue with a 5-19 record. He is owed a buyout of $9.3375 for being fired without cause.
Walters was hired following the conclusion of the 2022 season, after previous coach Jeff Brohm left West Lafayette to take the job at Louisville. The Boilers went into rebuilding mode, trying to replace a lot of talent from a team that won eight games and earned a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game.
Purdue finished the 2023 campaign with a 4-8 record but showed fight in nearly every game. It provided optimism about the program moving forward under Walters' leadership. That momentum didn't carry over into 2024.
Things got ugly in Purdue's second game, losing 66-7 to Notre Dame and showing no real competitiveness. It never really got any better for the Boilers, who suffered several more blowout losses the rest of the season.
As a result, Purdue also had a flurry of decommitments from the 2025 recruiting class. The Boilermakers rank last in the Big Ten and sit at No. 97 in the 247Sports rankings.
Now, Purdue begins its search for a new coach to see if someone can right a ship that has drifted off course.
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