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Purdue football has made a significant change to its coaching staff. After another disappointing offensive outing for the Boilermakers against Nebraska in Week 5, head coach Ryan Walters has seen enough. He relieved offensive coordinator Graham Harrell of his duties, effective immediately, per Rivals on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
Entering the 2024-25 college football season, Purdue had an offense that they were looking to see improvement from, but things haven't gone their way through the first portion of their schedule. Sitting at 1-3, it was time to figure out a backup plan.
“Decisions like this are never easy,” Walters said in a news release, per the Nathan Baird of The Indy Star. “After evaluating our start to the season, I felt that it was best for our team to make a change now. We are appreciative of Graham’s contributions to our program and wish him the best going forward.”
The program hasn't announced any plans on a replacement, or any further changes to the offense, but it was clear that there was an unsettling vibe within the team. After Purdue went scoreless in the first half, and couldn't get a serious drive going in the second against Nebraska, Walters had to take action.
What has gone wrong with Graham Harrell and Purdue football?
Harrell was in the second year of a three-year contract that he signed when the program hired him in 2022. He came in with previous coaching stints at West Virginia, USC and North Texas.
Purdue went 4-8 in Walters' first season as head coach in 2023, and the hope was that things would be turned around with a year under his belt of having his staff and the players become acclimated to his system. When the Boilermakers opened up 2024 with a dominating 49-0 victory over Indiana State, it appeared that the tide was turning.
However, with eventual beatdown losses to Notre Dame and Oregon State, the hope began to crumble once again. Purdue was hanging tough with Nebraska in Week 5, but their glacially-paced offense managed to total just 224 yards and one too-little-too-late touchdown in the fourth quarter. That typically doesn't cut it in the Big Ten.
Purdue has another tough conference matchup with Wisconsin on the road at Camp Randall Stadium in Week 6. Walters and the rest of his staff will have to go back to the drawing board before they face off against a team that has been struggling defensively. Perhaps the coaching change will get the Boilermakers on the right track to finding an offensive rhythm.
