Purdue Fires Ryan Walters
- Thread starter T_Levine
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Meh. Braun is safe. Nobody cares about NUFB. NU ain’t competing for the playoffs anytime soon.
I don’t see how your headline and comment relate whatsoever. I do think the infusion of new resources raises the bar for Braun. Idk if there is a specific number of wins, but if the powers that be invest like that and get no results changes will be requested.
Adam
Simple. Purdue gave Walter’s two years and saw the future in front of them.
Moving into the palace and a golden age for NU basketball, women’s lacrosse, softball, golf and field hockey, mediocrity is no longer acceptable.
The excitement from the stadium alone will not carry beyond the non conference schedule in 2026.
If we win 1-3 games in 2025 the headwinds going into that new stadium will be fierce. All the stories will not be about moving into a palace but rather why is a football program in the NCAA, that stinks, spending all that money. The positive story will be a negative PR mess.
Unfortunately, if Braun doesn't get any traction in rebuilding the program, it might take another 3-5 years for the next guy to get it going again, and that is if we hire the right man for the job. The administration better decide to go all in on football and soon, or any recruit with a brain will avoid NU. NIL is a must, as the program seems to not be able to recruit the needed talent on its own merits anymore to be competitive. A truly innovative HC or even just an OC is also sorely needed.
Anyone with eyes could see that Walters was not going to be the long term answer for Purdue. I believe Brohm and Tiller were cut from similar molds - proven head coaches with an ability to field strong offenses in one of the least desirable destinations in the Big Ten. Purdue needs to replicate that in their next hire...not a coordinator looking for his first job. It's only too bad for them that Cignetti showed up a year early downstate.
Someone mentioned Fitz to Iowa...if Kirk Ferentz were to retire tomorrow, the Iowa AD would be an absolute idiot to do anything but 1) call Bret Bielema and 2) write him a blank check.
Someone mentioned Fitz to Iowa...if Kirk Ferentz were to retire tomorrow, the Iowa AD would be an absolute idiot to do anything but 1) call Bret Bielema and 2) write him a blank check.
To your point, Dave Clawson is getting a decent amount of push for Purdue. And makes sense — established head coach with an offensive background and Purdue can likely offer better resources/platform than Wake Forest.
Up until this comment all I have ever heard is Clawson would never leave Wake. If that has now changed he would be an excellent choice for Purdue.
Here in Winston-Salem, the bloom is definitely off the Clawson rose. He peaked when he had an all-time program great QB, and this season has been almost as bad as NU's. I wouldn't be surprised to see him return to the midwest if offered the chance.
Clawson is interesting, although coming off a pair of losing seasons probably doesn't fire up the boosters. I would simply say if you look at Cignetti as a case study, a great coach with resources and the Portal can work wonders - not to say he should be the standard that all programs expect out of the gate, but he proves it's possible.
Purdue isn’t going to be playing in the high-end section of coaching selection unless there’s some booster willing to step up to promise a significant salary and NIL budget.
Walters was making ~$4MM at Purdue, which sounds like a lot but was 14th in the B1G (ahead of DeShaun Foster and, presumably, Braun; Cignetti’s initial contract had him at ~$4MM, but has now increased to ~$8MM). Can’t imagine that Purdue is getting a ton of NIL and/or revenue sharing at a basketball-first school. It’s not an easy job.
I don't disagree, but it baffles me how/why ANY program in the Big Ten or the SEC doesn't pay salaries that enable them to basically buy anyone they want, including coordinators and assistants.
I always say it doesn't actually cost much to be a good tipper. I feel the same when it comes to coaching salaries, especially when you're a middling or bottom-feeding Big Ten program where you're pulling in tens of millions beyond your station (and yes, this most certainly includes NU). Say all you want about needing to fund other athletic programs - ask any team in the MAC if they could make it work with our tv money.
Bret’s contract includes a non-compete clause for other big ten schools. He can’t resign his position to take another big ten job until summer 2029. It was added at Bret’s request because he was getting negative recruited constantly with other coaches telling recruits he was headed to Iowa or Wisconsin soon.
He must not want the Iowa job that much for him to voluntarily request this clause. He couldn’t be that confident that Ferentz is going to stay until 2029.
Purdue and Indiana are both really hard jobs. Cignetti effectively imported a ready-made roster. Maintaining that success will be very, very difficult
I’m pretty shocked that Walters only got two of his five years, but losing to your rival like he lost will do that. I imagine this will be a brief detour and that he’ll be in demand as a coordinator in a matter of days or weeks.
Or else what? Penalty of death? Dig deep enough and I'm sure there's an escape clause, with money owed to Illinois or some such.
I don't mean to sound so cynical, but in this day and age we've seen enough instances where contract language really just helps determine the price tag of voiding the agreement.
I actually never assumed Bielema would want to go back to Wisconsin - he's been there and done that, went to three consecutive Rose Bowls and won a conference title under much easier circumstances than he'd face today. Iowa is a different story.
I posted this in another thread. The first coach most people should consider (for seven or so years, everyone wants one "for the next 25 years" and that is not realistic) is former TCU coach and turnaround expert Gary Patterson. Yeah he is about 65, Saban coached until he was 73 (and could have kept going).
Correct. There’s a buyout but it’s astronomical. I can’t recall the value but it’s preposterous money.
He would be as much of a home
run hire as I think PU could get. He’s done very well at Wake with limited resources. They’ve lost a ton of good players to the portal the last couple years. Tough job at Wake that he’s done about as good a job as one can do there.
Clawson's formula for success was similar to Fitz's and just does not work as well in the era of NIL and the portal. He'll need to adjust and it might be easier to do that with a team in the Big Ten where resources ($$$) are more plentiful than in the ACC.
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Been saying for years that that would be a perfect landing spot for him — gets back in the game, doesn’t have to move, obviously has some kind of relationship with Kevin Warren (and likely Ryan Poles from his days working for NFL prospects at NU, plus the Kafka connection), can still see Jack at NU and Ryan at Iowa while going to some of Brendan’s basketball games, etc. Could look to settle his lawsuit with NU and take the position coach role.
Would need to settle the lawsuit soon. The new Bears head coach will be in place by this January and the staff will be filled quickly. Count me in as a fan that believes/hopes Thomas Brown does well enough in his interim role to get the full time job as Head Coach. He gives me young Mike Tomlin vibes.
After 11 years at Wake, Clawson is under .500 overall at 67-69, and just 32-54 in the ACC. He's 57 so might be too old for PU. My bet is he fininshes his career in Winston-Salem.
Yes, his last few years at Wake haven’t been as good as his first 8, but again, experience-wise, short of landing say, Dan Mullen, PU would be foolish not to get him if he wants the gig.
Even at now just under .500, have to believe that ranks pretty high at Wake for winning %.
I don’t think Brown is in danger of being hired full time. Hiring interim coaches almost never works anyway. Cough.
I think he has a pretty decent shot at the full time job but the Bears will have to play a lot better than they did today. Seeing an Eric Washington coordinated defense get steamrolled gave me flashbacks to his NU days when our DL fundamentals were horrible despite having pretty good talent. He is a horrible coach in my opinion.
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Dan Mullen's Florida Gators football team was 2-9 in their last 11 games against Power 5 teams in 2021.
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