Purdue Reportedly Promoting Staffer to Wide Receivers Coach
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Another change is reportedly coming to Purdue's coaching staff for the 2026 season. According to FootballScoop.com, head coach Barry Odom is expected to promote staffer Bilal Marshall to the full-time wide receivers coach.
Marshall just completed his first season as a staffer in West Lafayette, working as an assistant wide receivers coach. He will now be the on-field, full-time coach of the position group, per FootballScoop.com's reporting.
Last season, Cornell Ford worked as the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Could this move be an indication that Ford will move to the running back room and coach that position group, as Odom parted ways with previous running backs coach Lamar Conard?
Marshall is a former Boilermaker wide receiver, playing from 2012 through 2016. He had his best year as a senior, totaling 477 yards and three touchdowns on 40 receptions. Marshall ended his playing career in West Lafayette with 47 catches for 549 yards and three touchdowns.
Odom felt the need to make some staff adjustments following Purdue's 2025 campaign. The Boilermakers finished the season with a 2-10 record, which included a second straight winless year in Big Ten play.
After the season concluded, Odom parted ways with offensive line coach Vance Vice and Conard, the running backs coach. So far, those are the only two to be let go from the 2025 staff.
Some reshuffling on Purdue's staff
With Marshall's promotion to full-time wide receivers coach, there's a good chance Ford will move to become the running backs coach at Purdue. He was the running backs coach under Odom at UNLV and held the same position at Missouri from 2016 through 2019, also working for Odom.
It would be the move that makes the most logical sense, especially with Ford's experience coaching that position group.
Purdue has also recently found its next offensive line coach, Zach Crabtree. He comes to West Lafayette after spending last season as the offensive line coach at Fresno State, his first year in that position.
Before his stop at Fresno State, Crabtree worked alongside Josh Henson as the assistant offensive line coach at USC. He has familiarity with Henson because of his days with the Trojans, but also played under Purdue's offensive coordinator when he was an offensive lineman at Oklahoma State.
Odom hasn't made several changes to his staff at this time, but clearly, he felt like something needed to be done this offseason after a 2-10 campaign.
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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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