Ryan Walters Knows What It's Like To Open Against Rival

Ryan Walters would best be described as a cerebral football coach, soft-spoken whenever explaining himself, a University of Washington defensive coordinator always under control when surveying the action from the sideline.

After all, when Purdue fired him as its head coach in 2024, he just gathered up his wife and kids and headed for the serenity of Florida and Disney World.

Yet this is a guy who admittedly can climb aboard a metaphoric roller coaster ride, throw his arms into the air and beginning yelling on the sharp descent.

Such was the case against Washington State in last year's Apple Cup, when Walters confided that he broke from his usual steel demeanor and called a few plays in Pullman that bordered more on an emotional response than a strategic move.

While the Huskies won convincingly 59-24, he wasn't at all pleased by the number of points his players permitted.

"Usually when I throw an all-out blitz in an area of the field that's not common to throw an all-blitz, it's because I was frustrated," he said on Tuesday.

Such are the inner workings of this UW defensive mastermind who generally doesn't flinch when going after an opponent, or engaging with one of his players who might be testing him or even answering a sometimes flimsy media inquiry.

In a year and a half, Walters has restored his coaching reputation fairly quickly, going from that discarded head coach who couldn't get things rolling at Purdue to hearing everyone sing his praises as this defensive chess master in Montlake.

Ryan Walters meets with the media in Seattle for the first time in 2025. | Dan Raley

All along, he still acts like a head coach in how graceful he conducts himself. In conversation, his tone rarely changes, though he can readily get after a defensive player on the field who continually makes mistakes with a barking comment and then it's over.

Walters' serious and grounded approach seems to have had an effect on his defensive unit that is overloaded with experienced players and expected to be exceptional this season while elevating a team that finished 9-4 in 2025.

With the Huskies opening the season against their rivals from Washington State, Walters has experienced something like this personally when he played as a starting safety for Colorado in 2007-09.

Ryan Walters signals to his Purdue team against Nebraska in 2024. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

While he was in Boulder, the Buffaloes opened the season three times against Colorado State and won two of those games.

This Sunday, the typically calm defensive coach will be watchful of his players and their emotional response in asking them to stay grounded their first time out against WSU.

"Just do your job snap in and snap out sort of to calm you down," Walters said. "I think that will be a big key for us as a defensive unit."

And he'll be a little more judicious in using those all-out blitzes, too.

Add us as a preferred source on Google