Jim Everett Pitched Specific Head Coach Candidate to Purdue Football Back in 2022
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Before Purdue hired Ryan Walters as its head football coach in December 2022, program legend Jim Everett tried to pitch another candidate to his alma mater. The person Everett wanted to lead the Boilermakers? Current Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.
Following Purdue's trip to the Big Ten Championship Game in 2022, then-head coach Jeff Brohm left the program to become the leader at Louisville, his alma mater. That forced athletic director Mike Bobinski to find someone else to fill the giant shoes left in West Lafayette.
Coen and Everett knew each other through the Los Angeles Rams connection. Coen worked for the organization from 2018 through 2020, and again in 2022. Everett started his NFL career with the franchise and played for the Rams from 1986 until 1993.
In 2021, Coen was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky, helping the Wildcats to a 10-3 record. Because of his offensive mind, Everett thought he would be a strong candidate to lead the Boilers.
Purdue settled on Walters, who had been part of an 8-5 season as the defensive coordinator at Illinois. Bobinski tried to find lightning in a bottle and hire the next young, brilliant football mind to lead the program. Although Everett attempted to get Coen an interview, the request was ignored.
“On his trip, I said, ‘Hold on, Liam, would you be interested in the head coaching job at Purdue?’” Everett told Action Network. “Because they were just getting rid of (Jeff Brohm). He said, ‘Absolutely, set me up.’ I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough."
“They already were making another hire, and it was another one of their mistakes. When you know the person and it’s so obvious, it’s like, ‘Wait a minute.’ He wanted the Purdue job. They wouldn’t interview him.”
Walters flopped in two seasons in West Lafayette, going just 5-19, which included a 1-11 season in 2024, one of the worst years in school history. A day after the season ended, Purdue fired Walters and hired Barry Odom away from UNLV.
In Odom's first season in West Lafayette, Purdue finished with a 2-10 record and failed to win a Big Ten game for a second straight season. There is a little more optimism about the Boilermakers heading into the 2026 season, with a strong transfer portal class that has arrived on campus.
Still, Everett would like to see the program get back to its roots.
“Here’s my advice to Purdue, since they're not listening to me anyway,” Everett said. “I’ll tell it through you, and you can put it out there: Purdue is known for astronauts and quarterbacks. Usually, with an astronaut, you need a good space program, and with quarterbacks, you need a good offensive program."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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