Barry Odom addresses what's next for Purdue: Quarterback, recruiting, staff evaluations

WEST LAFAYETTE — The question about what comes next for Purdue football came to the forefront even before Friday’s 56-3 loss to No. 2 Indiana.

The Boilermakers’ worst home loss in the 100-year history of the Old Oaken Bucket game brought finality to coach Barry Odom’s first season. It only started an offseason of speculation and change.

What Odom said about what comes next:

What is Purdue football's offseason plan at quarterback?

Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Josh Henson said Ryan Browne would start and the staff would feel things out from there on whether Malachi Singleton also ran the full offense.

Browne, though, took almost every snap of Friday’s game — playing out the mop-up snaps as well. Odom said they felt Browne’s passing ability better matched up against IU’s defense.

Purdue brought in three quarterbacks in the winter via the transfer portal, then swapped one out for Browne in the spring. One assumes that position will see some attrition. Browne started every game but may need to defend his job in the spring and the preseason, depending on who is available via the transfer portal.

“Our job is to develop those guys, every single person in our program, to try to get them to play our best ball,” Odom said. “That will be our approach at every single position, including the quarterback.

“I think we’ve got guys that can play winning ball in that room.”

How much will Purdue football's roster change this winter?

Odom turned over almost the entire roster last season after taking the job, between high school signings and two transfer portal windows.

His first concern this winter — one he’s mentioned multiple times — is keeping those players the staff feels helped set a foundation for the future. That will determine the extend of this year’s foray into the portal.

“I just don’t know what the retention’s going to look like,” Odom said. “How many are we going to sign or how many are we going to lose, whatever the way you look at that is.

“There’s no way we’ll be at 83 (new players) like we were last year. Hopefully we can keep the core group of guys that want to do it and build this thing to winning success. You look at consistent teams that are able to retain players and you turn them into where every single year you are competing for bowl games and then something bigger than that.”

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How will Barry Odom evaluate Purdue football's coaching staff after 2-10?

Will Odom feel the need to make staff changes after a 2-10 season? That’s not necessarily an easy evaluation process. His first challenge was to provide stability at Purdue, and wholesale changes would run counter to that mission.

Odom made it clear he expected wins in Year 1. That goal may not have lined up realistically with the talent on hand relative to this schedule. He made clear staff evaluations would involve a wholistic process.

“Every single week, every single day, the body of work on mentoring our players, academic success, on-the-field success, development, recruiting — all those things go into making ideas and thoughts and what the staff needs to look like,” Odom said.

“If you listen to what everybody on the outside says, I would have been fired after Week 3 and so would every other coach. It’s a body of work on what people do, the value they have, and the experience they have and what we need in my belief to get this program where it needs to be.”

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What's next for Purdue football? Transfer portal recruiting, roster evaluations