Report: Purdue tabs Brad Lambert to be co-defensive coordinator/LB coach
According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo!, Purdue will hire Brad Lambert as co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach.
He most recently was Marshall defensive coordinator/safeties coach. Lambert ran the Thurnder Herd defense each of the last two seasons under Doc Holliday, who was let go after the 2020 season.
The 56-year-old Lambert presumably will work in concert with current Purdue co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, the lone original member of Jeff Brohm's first defensive staff in 2017.
The hiring of Lambert--who was a candidate to replace Holliday as Marshall coach--is the final piece to a rebuilt Purdue defensive staff that saw the school part ways with coordinator/linebackers coach Bob Diaco and cornerbacks coach Greg Brown after 2020, while line coach Terrance Jamison left for the same job at Illinois. Diaco was the staff's highest-paid assistant with a $625,000 salary in 2020. He was at Purdue one season after replacing Nick Holt.
Brohm hired Mark Hagen from Texas to coach the line and Ron English from Florida to coach in the secondary. Now, Lambert is on board to help coordinate the defense and coach linebackers for a Purdue program coming off a third consecutive losing season.
Lambert was a Broyles Award nominee in 2020 after coordinating a unit that paced college football in scoring, yielding only 13 points per game. The aggressive Marshall defense ranked fourth in America in rush defense and 11th in pass defense, helping the Herd go 7-3 overall in 2020 and finish first in C-USA East with a 4-1 record.
Lambert's Marshall defense tallied 15 takeaways during the 2020 season with 10 fumble recoveries. The Thundering Herd also notched 25 sacks, tying for first in C-USA.
Prior to Marshall, Lambert was the head coach of Charlotte, a program he helped start from scratch in 2011. Lambert forged a 22-48 record with the 49ers and went 8-24 in C-USA from 2011-18.
From 2001-10, Lambert was an assistant at Wake Forest for Jim Grobe, coaching linebackers before becoming coordinator and DB coach in 2008. Lambert was part of some outstanding Wake teams, helping the Demon Deacons to the 2006 ACC title game.
Lambert began his career as a GA at Oklahoma in 1988 after playing at Kansas State (1983-86). His first full-time job was at Marshall, where he coached from 1990-95 under Jim Donnan. Lambert then followed Donnan to Georgia, where he worked from 1996-2000. He coached vs. Purdue in the Outback Bowl after the 1999 season.
Lambert will have some talent to work with at Purdue in end George Karlaftis, cornerback Cory Trice, safeties Cam Allen and Marvin Grant, linebackers Jalen Graham and Jaylan Alexander and linebacker/end DaMarcus Mitchell, among others. Incoming freshman Yanni Karlaftis could be an instant-impact addition at linebacker, along with Auburn transfer Octavius Brothers (LB) and South Carolina transfer Joseph Anderson (DE).
There are three areas for this defense to hone in on moving forward coming off a 2-4 season that saw Purdue drop its final four games.
• Sacks: Purdue finished last in the Big Ten in 2020 with just five in six games.
• Takeaways: The unit generated just seven—and just one over the last four games, all losses. Only two Big Ten teams had fewer takeaways in 2020.
• Third-down defense: Purdue finished No. 13 in the Big Ten, allowing opponents to convert 43.7 percent of the time (38-of-87).
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