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Purdue

Barry Odom: 'This team is completely different than anybody on the outside knows'

On3 imageby:Tom Dienhart•12 hours ago•

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(Larry Pellitier/USA Today)

LAS VEGAS — The caboose.

That’s Purdue, picked to finished 18th–last–in the Big Ten, according to most every preseason prognosticator.

Wah-wah. Not a shock.

Purdue was in this same spot last year, remember? Ryan Walters seemed to be talking through clenched teeth when he addressed the topic at Big Ten media days in 2024 in Indianapolis. He may have been motivated by the slight, but he did nothing to prove pundits wrong in a train-wreck season to end all train-wreck seasons.

Will Odom prove ’em wrong?

He is saying all the right things along the Vegas Strip, preaching the gospel of new Purdue and eager to ignite his first season in West Lafayette with fire and brimstone.

But can he flip a losing script for a program that just three scant years ago played in the Big Ten title game?

“The last time when I was a head coach, we were picked last and it worked out in our favor pretty well,” said Odom. “We ended up in the championship game.”

That was at UNLV in 2023. While the Rebels were a re-hab project. Odom walked into an HGTV-worthy tear-down/rebuild in West Lafayette when he shook AD Mike Bobinski’s hand and took the job back in December.

Purdue was in a heap. But look at Odom go.

He’s up on the big stage in a cavernous ball room in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, staring back at an assembled media corps from across the country during Big Ten media days. (Odom didn’t leave more than five minutes for questions during his 15 minute filibuster.)

Odom seemingly worked from a crafted script, saying all the right things, thanking staffers, president Mung Chiang and others during a black-and-gold dipped sermon that no doubt buckled Purdue Pete’s knees back on campus. If there had been any babies here, Odom surely would have kissed them.

So, you think he’s concerned about your expectations?

The barrel-chested former linebacker shrugs his still ample shoulders.

Odom is tackling some X-rated 2024 details: 1-11 record … 11-game losing streak … 66-7, 66-0 losses … finishing last in rushing, passing and total defense … the grisly details drip, drip, drip.

THAT’S what Purdue is being judged on as the new season dawns. But, that’s all people really have to assess the 2025 prospects for the Boilers.

But you don’t know how good Purdue can be in 2025. You think you know. But, you don’t know. You’re lying if you say you do.

“This team is completely different than anybody on the outside knows,” said Odom. “The way that returners have come back and worked, the additions that we’ve made to our team, the opportunity is there for us to create the momentum early on.”

That opportunity starts on August 30th, when plucky Ball State wades into West Lafayette for Game No. 1. First, Purdue will begin camp on July 31. But, Odom and Co., have been putting in the work since December, when he arrived from Las Vegas and began branding his “hard, smart, tough” mantra on anyone he crossed paths.

The roster has been torn to its studs with over 50 portal additions. Twenty-plus freshmen are on campus, too. But, most notably added: A well-built staff. And Odom.

They aren’t looking in the rear-view mirror. They’re peering through the windshield. (There’s a reason why one is smaller than the other.) Still, you have to know where you’ve been to know where you are going.

“I think everybody in our organization knows what people think about us,” fessed Odom. “So, the respect factor on what we need to do, on just keep blinders on, let’s go work. And in 37 days, we get to kick it off and see how good we can get.”

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