“I feel the responsibility now for Purdue University as a football program to get back into the area that we’re competing and winning championships.” This is what Barry Odom said as he came to Purdue to turn around the Big 10 program. But turning around a program like Purdue that went 1-11 in 2024? It was always going to be a tough ask, and yet Odom’s previous successes at UNLV and Arkansas screamed quality.

Coming to Purdue, Odom earned a $36 million contract back in December 2024 that will gradually increase till 2030. It’s a promising sum for a head coach who elevated Arkansas’s defense to 25th nationally, and his 13 interceptions were the second most in the 2020 campaign. Moreover, at UNLV, the Purdue head coach led the team to a 9-win season in just his first season, the first time

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