Barry Odom Says Returning Purdue Players Were Hungry for 'Structure, Discipline'

There weren't many faces in the team meeting room when Barry Odom was introduced as the next coach at Purdue. He estimates that only about 40 players decided to give him an opportunity to lead the program. And those individuals who stuck around were eager to have some "structure and discipline" in West Lafayette.

Heading into the 2025 college football season, Purdue has welcomed in 82 new faces and 51 transfer players, the most for any school in the Big Ten. Not many wanted to stay after a disastrous 1-11 campaign in 2024.

Purdue football had reached a low point, and Odom said he could sense that the players who remained wanted more guidance on the football field and beyond.

"The guys who stayed, you could sense and feel there was a craving for structure and discipline, and they were ready to get started," Odom told Big Ten Network. "We've made a lot of progress in seven months, but we still have a long way to go."

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Barry Odom looks down field | Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It's not overly surprising that a program that won just five games over the last two years lacked structure. And that, at least partly, is why so many players decided to flee when the transfer portal opened after the 2024 season.

Odom certainly likes the pieces he brought in from the transfer portal and the prospects coming in as members of the 2025 recruiting class. But he also felt a responsibility to provide better leadership to the group of players who decided to give him a chance to prove himself at Purdue.

"The guys who were here in the first team meeting, I challenged them all and wanted them all to stay," Odom said. "Just to get the foundation built strongly, get the organization together — give me a chance, give me an opportunity."

Related stories on Purdue football