Report: Purdue poised to hire UNLV’s Barry Odom as head football coach

Purdue is set to hire Barry Odom to be its 38th full-time head football coach, according to Ross Dellinger of Yahoo.

A team meeting has been called for today at 2 p.m., GoldandBlack.com has learned.

Odom takes over for Ryan Walters, who went 5-19 (3-15 Big Ten) in two seasons in West Lafayette. Purdue’s 1-11 (0-9 Big Ten) 2024 season doomed Walters, who closed his Boilermaker career with a school-record tying 11 defeats in a row.

Enter Odom.

He coached the last two years at UNLV, where he went 19-8 overall and 12-3 in the Mountain West. The Rebels lost the Mountain West title game 21-7 on Friday night vs. Boise State. Odom had the Rebels bowl eligible both years he was in Las Vegas.

Odom, 48, was head coach at Missouri from 2016-19, going 25-25 overall and 13-19 in the SEC, earning two bowls.

Odom also was defensive coordinator at Arkansas (2020-22), Missouri (2015) and Memphis (2012-14). Walters was Odom’s DC at Missouri in Odom’s final two season in Columbia. They also worked together at Memphis in 2014.

Odom began his career as a GA at Missouri in 2003, staying with the Tigers in various roles until 2011 when he left for Memphis for three seasons to be DC for Justin Fuente before coming back to Mizzou in 2015 to work again with Gary Pinkel whom he eventually replaced as head coach.

The Lawton, Okla., native played linebacker at Missouri from 1996-99.

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