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Big Ten coach criticizes Purdue's transfer portal strategy

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones06/02/26brianjones_93

An anonymous Big Ten coach criticized how Purdue handled the transfer portal during the offseason. Athlon Sports spoke to the coach about how the Boilermakers look heading into the 2026 season.

“Some continuity definitely helps (head coach) Barry Odom in Year 2,” the Big Ten coach said. “Truthfully, I wasn’t incredibly impressed with what they brought in through the transfer portal. At Purdue, you have such an avenue to offer playing time to guys when other schools that you’re gonna play against that aren’t that much better than you can’t do that.

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“I don’t think they took great advantage of that, but I definitely think they’ll be better from a continuity standpoint. I really do think that they have a good coaching staff, but I’d be lying if I said that I was impressed with what they brought in through the portal.”

Purdue is ranked No. 24 in On3’s Transfer Portal rankings. While the team lost 19 players, Purdue brought in 29 student-athletes, including Georgia transfer Elo Modozie and USC transfer Micah Banuelos. The Boilermakers have the fourth-best transfer portal class behind Wisconsin, UCLA and defending national champion Indiana.

Barry Odom says Purdue’s 2025 season was ‘awful’

As the Big Ten coach mentioned, Odom is entering his second season as the head coach at Purdue. The team struggled in 2025, finishing 2-10 on the year and 0-9 in Big Ten play. It was the second consecutive season the Boilermakers did not win a conference game.

“It was awful, just to be really honest, it was terrible,” Odom said about last season on 107.5 The Fan in April. “But I also saw areas that we were making improvements, and I’ve got such strong conviction that it’s about to break open and it’s going to happen because of those things, the work ethic, the staff, the things that we’ve done in the in the weight room in the offseason, the additions we’ve made, the gains that our returners have made. There were times that it seemed like we were so far off, and then other times going like, man, we’re about to break this open last year, and I never could get us over the hump.”

Athlon Sports gave an in-depth analysis of Purdue and all the FBS teams in its annual College Football Preview magazine. Fans can order the magazine by clicking HERE.