Every time Barry Odom has sat in front of a microphone, done an interview, hell, even made his radio debut, the message has remained constant. Purdue is going to get back to its winning ways, and it will do so quickly.
Despite the success Odom and his staff had in that endeavor at UNLV is quick fashion, it's not an overnight process. Months and months of hard work and discipline are required for complete turnarounds of a program, especially one that went just 1-11 last season and saw the majority of its talent ravaged in the transfer portal.
The first step is done. 40 new faces were officially welcomed to the program last week as a part of the 2025 recruiting class, with 29 incoming transfers and 11 freshmen joining the fray. Now, it's about getting all 112 players currently on the roster to buy into the new culture of Purdue football.
The culture, or lack thereof, was a hot button topic during the previous era in West Lafayette. New quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw has heard from some of the returning players and already knows Odom has the program heading back in the right direction.
"The players that were here with the old staff and all that, they said it's night and day, they say, between what happened before and where we are right now. And we are headed that right direction. We are building the foundation, and we are doing things the right way, and we've got to continue to build that," Hinshaw said.
It starts with discipline, down to going to class, turning in homework, being engaged in team meetings, and working hard in the winter conditioning program. That standard has been laid out to the coaches and players from day one and Odom is holding everyone accountable from top to bottom.
"Discipline, number one. You know, he has a standard of exactly what we're supposed to do as coaches and as players, and he holds everyone accountable. It doesn't matter if you're the best player in the team or if you're a walk-on, we all have the same standard, the same discipline," Hinshaw said.
The lone returning position coach, running backs coach Lamar Conard shied away from touching on his now former co-workers went about their business, but did reveal the type of energy Odom has inserted into the program.
"Barry just has a very simple mantra, I'm going to hold you accountable for everything you do, every day. Do your job. You know that can scare people especially today, kids could leave right? But right now, he's trying to get the culture the way he wants it. And the standard is the standard," Conard said.
That approach is not only hoping to be applied to the guys on campus, but it was key in luring new offensive coordinator Josh Henson away from Southern California to join Odom's staff in West Lafayette. The pillars of smart, hard and tough were appealing to Henson, who knows its not just coach speak, Odom truly lives it.
"Number one it was, Coach Odom, and who he is as a person, and knowing the program that he's going to bring to Purdue and that program has so much more to do than just offense. It's about becoming a better person. It's about the way Coach Odom says, it's smart, hard, tough, and it's about being disciplined and doing things right on a daily basis," Henson said.
Many of the new coaches in West Lafayette have a history with Odom, including wide receivers coach Cornell Ford, who goes way back with the Purdue head coach, dating back to their shared time at Missouri. Ford offered up just how highly he thinks of Odom by comparing him to a coaching legend.
"I was there for both coaches with Pinkel and with Barry, which me and Barry worked together there. And I'm telling you between the two, at the point where Barry was let go, he was just as good as Gary Pinkel," Ford said.
Ford also pointed to Odom's ability to adapt throughout his coaching career being yet another reason why he's found success, particularly at UNLV over the last two years.
"I think he's come a long way, and made a lot of changes for the better. And I think our kids have benefited from that. Certainly that's kind of what happened when we went to UNLV and I believe it'll be the same when we finish things here," Ford said.
It's that history mixed with familiarity between Odom and coaches like Ford, Vance Vice, Mike Scherer, Henson, Jake Trump and Kelvin Green that helped form the Boilermakers' coaching staff. It also assisted Purdue in its recruiting efforts via the transfer portal, as well as showing the current Boilermakers a result if they buy into the vision.
"I think the main thing that we're selling is opportunity and believing in what we've built in the past and that success, and showing them how it's gone from one university to the next," Ford said.
Purdue is looking to follow the same blueprint as the one Odom and company carried out in Las Vegas, where the Rebels went from a team that had won 20 games over the previous six seasons and matched that total in just two under the direction of the now Purdue leader.
Defensive coordinator Mike Scherer played for Odom at Missouri and has been with him ever since, and can point to their track record together as a precursor for future success in West Lafayette.
"All I can say is, we've seen it at multiple different levels, and seeing what it takes and what it requires. And you can show people that," Scherer said. "You can't promise anything, but you can say, 'Hey, here's what we're coming from. Here's what we've done. And if you trust in the plan, history says that you can be just like what has happened in the past'," Scherer said.
The plan is in place, the coaches are bought in, but now lies the task of Odom and the coaching staff getting the players on board as well. That quest is underway during winter workouts and will lead into spring practice, where the Boilermakers will learn just what they have on the field. For now, the process calls for laying the foundation outside the white lines.
