There is a new sheriff in town for the Purdue Boilermakers, with Purdue football finally finding a successor to Jeff Brohm.  Sources tell Brett McMurphy of the Action Network that Illinois Fighting Illini defensive coordinator is the next head coach of the Boilermakers.

Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters is the new coach at Purdue, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ. With Walters, Illinois ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring defense and No. 2 in total defense this season

Brohm is moving on to the next chapter of his college football coaching career, finding work as the new head coach of the Louisville Cardinals.

Purdue football is definitely impressed with the job Walters did, particularly on defense, with the Fighting Illini. Illinois finished the 2022 college football regular season with an average of just 12.3 points allowed per game and second with only 263.8 total yards surrendered per contest.

Purdue football was not as effective defensively as Illinois this year, as the Boilermakers were just 38th in total defense (350.0) and only 54th in scoring defense (24.6).

The 36-year-old Walters had no head coaching experience prior to joining Purdue football, which is set to play the LSU Tigers in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in January, but he's been around college football coaching staffs since 2009. He started as a student assistant in 2009 in Colorado and had stints as a graduate assistant with the Arizona Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners.

He spent half a decade with the Missouri Tigers from 2015 to 2020 before he was hired by Illinois in 2021 to be the program's defensive coordinator under head coach Bret Bielema.