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Purdue hires Kevin Kane as defensive coordinator

On3 imageby: Tom Dienhart12/19/25TomDienhart1

Purdue will hire Kevin Kane as defensive coordinator.

Kane was defensive coordinator at Purdue under Ryan Walters in 2023-24. Kane spent the 2025 season as an analyst at Minnesota.

The Purdue defense struggled during the Walters/Kane era. In 2024, Purdue finished last in the Big Ten in total defense (452.7 ypg), last in scoring defense (39.9 ppg), last in rush defense (200.0 ypg) and last in pass defense (252.7 ypg).

Kane will replace DC/LB coach Mike Scherer, who left the program on Thursday after one season on the job.

Purdue already has parted ways with three assistants: Scherer, RB coach Lamar Conard and OL coach Vance Vice as Odom preps for his second season in West Lafayette. Purdue has promoted analyst Bilal Marshall to receivers coach, a spot Cornell Ford already occupies.

Purdue’s defense ranked 17th (second-to-last) in the Big Ten in 2025 (423.5 ypg) during a 2-10 season that saw the Boilermakers be the lone conference team without a Big Ten victory (0-9). Purdue finished the 2025 season with 10 defeats in succession after opening 2-0.

Purdue also was 16th in scoring defense (31.8 ppg) in the Big Ten, 16th vs. the run (181.8 ypg) and 18th vs. the pass (241.7 ypg). And the Boilermakers were 16th in turnovers forced with only nine (five fumble recoveries and a league-low four interceptions).

Prior to coming to West Lafayette, Kane worked for two seasons with Walters at Illinois as assistant head coach/outside linebackers coach. Kane helped Walters forge one of the top defenses in the nation in 2022, as the Illini are No. 2 in the nation in total defense (263.9 ypg), No. 1 in scoring defense (12.3 ppg), No. 8 in rushing defense (98.4 ypg) and No. 6 in passing defense (165.4 ypg). The Illini’s 29 takeaways are second most in the nation.

Kane is a naive of Kansas City, Mo., who played linebacker at Kansas from 2002-05 under Mark Mangino. The 38-year-old began his coaching career as a student assistant at Kansas from 2006-07 under Mangino. 

Kane was a GA at Wisconsin for Bret Bielema from 2008-09 and quality control coach in Madison in 2010. Kane’s first full-time role was under Dave Doeren and Rod Carey at Northern Illinois (2011-14). He worked at Kansas for David Beaty in 2015, then matriculated back to NIU in 2016-17, and next worked for Sonny Dykes at SMU in 2018-20 before landing at Illinois in 2021.

MORE: Coaching salaries: Benton, Marshall, Steckel | Purdue hires analyst Dave Steckel

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