Barry Odom 'Ecstatic' About Purdue's Commitment to Rebuilding Football Program

When it comes to Purdue's competitiveness with NIL and revenue sharing, Barry Odom has no concerns. He says the athletic department has made a major commitment to rebuilding Boilermaker football and will not "take a back seat to anyone" in those areas.

One of the appealing qualities of Purdue to Odom was its commitment to building a program that could compete at the top of the Big Ten. Athletic director Mike Bobinski promised that the athletic department and school would provide the necessary resources to be successful in one of college football's premier conferences.

It's a promise that Bobinski has followed through on during Odom's first six months on the job in West Lafayette.

"Ecstatic would be a descriptive word on how I felt about what Mike Bobinski talked to me about in the interview process," Odom told reporters on Thursday when asked about Purdue's NIL and revenue sharing situation. "It proved to be true — it was exactly what he told me it was going to be, and it was very aggressive. Purdue is not going to take a back seat to anyone when it comes to the revenue share.

"If you look at it, the Big Ten is setting the standard in college football on what that looks like. We're going to be as competitive as anyone in that department."

Because Purdue isn't in the same tier as programs like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, and some of the others in the Big Ten, there have been some questions about the monetary resources necessary to compete at the highest level in this era of college football. That hasn't been a concern for Odom thus far.

He says in his nearly 30 years of coaching, there are few leaders as strong as Bobinski at Purdue.

"I couldn't ask for a better leader than what Mike Bobinski has done in six months," Odom said. "He's been tremendous, locked arms every step of the way in what we need to do to get Purdue football back — in those conversations, he's made every single thing happen."

Odom certainly has his hands full in West Lafayette, trying to bring glory back to a program that finished 1-11 last season and has missed out on bowl games each of the last two years. There is a roster with more than 70 new faces on it. Finding success won't come easy.

But Odom has all the resources necessary to building a competitive product at Purdue. Having the coaching staff and the administration on the same page is the first big step to rebuilding the Boilermaker football program.

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