After an embarrassing 66-0 loss to rival Indiana on Saturday, Purdue football has decided to make a coaching change. Head coach Ryan Walters has been fired after two seasons with the team, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Walters went 4-8 in his first season in West Lafayette in 2023 and was looking to build off of that in 2024. After a win over Indiana State in the season opener, Purdue's season quickly went off the rails as it lost 11 games in a row to finish 1-11 on the year. Walters finishes his time as head coach with a 5-19 record overall.

Purdue was barely even competitive in the Big Ten this year, losing all nine of its conference games by an average of nearly 30 points per game. Those blowout losses include a 35-0 loss to Oregon, a 45-0 loss to Ohio State, a 49-10 loss to Penn State, a 52-6 loss to Wisconsin and Saturday's 66-point humiliation during rivalry week. The Boilermakers also lost to Notre Dame 66-7 back in Week 3.

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There is no question that Purdue has taken a massive step back this season, and it will be difficult to get some key players to stick around for another rebuild. On top of that, recruiting new talent both from the transfer portal and from the high school ranks will be difficult after a season like this where the Boilermakers looked completely non-competitive for large chunks of it.

There was some buzz that Walters may be fired after a humiliating loss against Indiana in a big rivalry game. Nobody expected Purdue to come out with a victory against a Hoosiers team that is almost certainly going to be playing in the College Football Playoff in a few weeks. However, the lack of fight and competitiveness throughout the game and the complete inability to provide any resistance for Indiana was a major concern.

It's unclear where Purdue football is going to go from here, but it will need to nail its next hire to be competitive in the Big Ten over the next few seasons. The Boilermakers don't have to look far to see a first-year success story, as Curt Cignetti has Indiana at 11-1 in his first year with the program.