Purdue Football Announces 2023 Coaching Staff

After a nearly two month process following Jeff Brohm's departure, new head coach Ryan Walters has assembled his full 2023 staff. Get to know the new Boilermaker coaches for the upcoming season.

Ryan Walters was hired on December 13th to become the new leader and head coach of the Purdue football program.

The 37 year old becomes the youngest head coach in the Big Ten, fourth youngest in the Power Five and eighth youngest in FBS.

Walters comes from Illinois, where he led one of the top ranked defense in the country last season. Walters’ defensive expertise is different from the offensive minded coaches Purdue has had since Joe Tiller came to West Lafayette in 1997.

Purdue’s new head coach is tasked with continuing the winning ways the program has seen over recent seasons and will look to elevate that success.

Harrell came to Purdue after one season at West Virginia under head coach Neil Brown. Prior to Purdue, he was an offensive coordinator for North Texas, USC, and West Virginia.

The former Texas Tech All-American played under Mike Leach and will bring the Air Raid offense with him to West Lafayette.

Seth Doege reunited with Graham Harrell in West Lafayette after the two were at Texas Tech together. Harrell was the starting quarterback in 2008 during Doege's redshirt season in Lubbock. Doege was also on staff at USC alongside Harrell for two seasons.

Doege comes to West Lafayette after spening a season on Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss as an offensive analyst.

Purdue’s new running backs coach was the final full-time hire for Ryan Walters. Lamar Conard returns to West Lafayette after playing defensive back for the Boilermakers and serving as a graduate assistant in 2007 and 2008.

Conard first came to Purdue in 1996 from Elkhart, Indiana as a walk-on. Joe Tiller later awarded a scholarship to Conard and he turned into a contributor for the Boilermakers over his four year career.

Prior to his Purdue return, Conard spent the last five seasons as the Miami (OH) running backs coach. The majority of his coaching career was spent at Illinois State, where he was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator.

Matt Mattox was hired away from UTSA where he was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for Jeff Traylor and the Roadrunners. UTSA had one of the top offenses in the country last season, scoring 36.8 points per game, which was good for 14th in the nation.

Prior to his three seasons in San Antonio, Mattox spent time with Texas, Houston, Tulsa, South Florida, Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois. With the Longhorns, he was the run game coordinator and offensive line coach.

Ryan Walters did not just bring defensive coaches along with him from Illinois, as he hired Cory Patterson to be the Boilermakers’ wide receivers coach. Patterson spent five seasons in Champaign, three as the tight ends coach and two as the running backs coach.

2023 will be Patterson’s sixth season of coaching college football, which makes him relatively young in the profession. Prior to getting into the college coaching ranks, Patterson was a high school football coach in the St. Louis area for 8 years.

Patterson will also add the title of associate head coach for Ryan Walters.

Kevin Kane was the first coach Ryan Walters brought with him from Illinois to Purdue. Kane was the associate head coach and outside linebackers coach for the Illini in 2021 and 2022.

Purdue’s new defensive coordinator has prior coordinator experience with SMU under Sonny Dykes and Northern Illinois. Kane played his college football at Kansas where he was an All-Big 12 performer at linebacker.

Brick Haley is the most experienced coach on Purdue’s staff by a wide margin. The 2023 season will be his 32nd year of coaching during his career. Purdue hired Haley away from Minnesota, where he was the defensive line coach last season.

Head coach Ryan Walters and Haley have a history together, as the two were on staff from 2017-2019 at Missouri. The longtime coach has experience at various levels during his career. He was the defensive line coach at LSU under Les Miles when the Tigers made it to the National Championship game in 2012.

Other stops in Haley’s career include the Chicago Bears, Texas, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Baylor, Clemson and Houston.

The youngest of the 10 on-field position coaches is another coach who followed Ryan Walters to West Lafayette from Illinois. Joe Dineen will serve as the Boilermakers’ outside linebackers coach in 2023, which marks his first full-time coaching gig in his career.

Dineen was a graduate assistant for the Illini last season after serving the same role alongside at SMU for Purdue’s new defensive coordinator, Kevin Kane. Dineen is just a few years removed from his playing career. The former linebacker was an All-American at Kansas in 2018 after leading the country in solo tackles per game. Dineen then had a brief stint in the NFL before getting into coaching.

Cornerbacks coach Sam Carter joined Seth Doege in leaving Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss for Purdue. Carter and Ryan Walters worked together under Barry Odom at Missouri for four years.

Carter served as the cornerbacks coach for the Rebels last season and spent two years in the same role with Arkansas. The former safety was an All-Big 12 selection during his playing career at TCU and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior with the Horned Frogs.

The final position coach to come to Purdue with Ryan Walters is the Boilermakers’ new safeties coach, Grant O’Brien. Similar to Joe Dineen, this will be O’Brien’s first full time position coach role in his career.

O’Brien served as a defensive analyst for the Illini last season. Before his lone season in Champaign, O’Brien was a defensive quality control analyst for three seasons at Missouri where he worked under Walters. He also has experience at Florida International, Arizona Christian and Northern Arizona.

Kiero Small joins Purdue as the Director of Strength & Conditioning for the football program under head coach Ryan Walters. Small was the Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning at Michigan for four seasons before coming to West Lafayette.

Small played fullback for Arkansas from 2011-2013 and then was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 NFL Draft. He also spent time with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.

Kiero Small brought of member of the new strength and conditioning staff with him to Purdue as Austin Winfree was hired to be the Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning for the Boilermakers. Winfree spent two seasons in Ann Arbor with Small.

Prior to his stint with the Wolverines, he spent time with Southern Miss, Marshall and Tennessee in the strength and conditioning department. Winfree also played collegiately at Memphis from 2013-2015.