Craig Has The Scout - Purdue 2025
Coming Up
Who: Purdue Boilermakers
When: 11:00 am – October 4th, 2025
Where: Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN
How: BTN
Opponent Primer:
Head Coach: Barry Odom
Barry Odom is a strong defensive scheme guy who was recruited by Larry Smith but came of age in Gary Pinkel’s Missouri program. He had plenty of time scheming in the film room because he wasn’t spending that time in a barber chair. He was a four-year starter before becoming a grad assistant under Pinkel. Pinkel helped him generate an impressive set of business cards as a graduate assistant, a position coach, director of recruiting, and defensive coordinator. After a detour to Memphis to run the defense, he returned to Columbia and took the reins – part preacher, part drill sergeant. As head coach he tried to translate stout run defense and some shady recruiting into wins. It didn’t work. Next he was Sam Pittman’s DC at Arkansas which he parlayed into the head job at UNLV. Black and gold apparently appeals to him: he reappeared at Purdue to sell Boilermaker fans a return to the kind of gritty, blue-collar defense that looks good on paper and makes opposing offenses swear. The Purdue faithful are super excited to have a former defensive coordinator take over, that’s always worked out well for them.
Odom is a good DC. He got Justin Fuente and Sam Pittman paid. The coaching beat notes his preparation, opponents mock his crappy public-relations demeanor, and beat writers note that his recruiting style shouldn’t see the light of day. There were controversies and complaints during his Missouri run and enough whisper to keep inboxes interesting, but nothing that erased his reputation for getting after a roster with the single-mindedness of someone who believes rules are suggestions and winning is compulsory. Balding, blunt, and blessed with a talent for calling defenses, Odom is trying to reinvent himself and prove that defensive coaches actually can win at Purdue.