Ryan Walters, who won a national award as Coordinator of the Year, has left the Illinois Fighting Illini football program to become the new head coach at Purdue. He becomes at least the seventh assistant under Bret Bielema to become a head coach at the FBS level, joining:
Sam Pittman, Dave Doeren, Thomas Hammock, Paul Chryst, Chris Ash and Charlie Partridge. The Illini got a great one in Walters, as the Illini had the Power Five’s best defense in terms of EPA per play allowed this season.
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Illinois also ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring defense and No. 2 in total defense this season.
We all knew it was a matter of time before Walters, 36, left to take a head coaching job, it was inevitable given the remarkable turnaround he achieved with this unit. Still, the hope had been, given his extension and raise last season, he might stay at least one more season.
However, you just cannot blame him, as money talks and Purdue President Mitch Daniels acts quickly. The time between the Walters news leaking and the official announcement occurring was very short. In replacing Jeff Brohm, who couldn’t say no to his alma mater the second time, Walters becomes the fourth youngest current head coach in the FBS.
“Congratulations to Coach Walters on taking the head coaching job at Purdue,” Bielema said in a statement. “Ryan is a talented coach with a bright future. We thank him and his family for everything they did for our program.
“This is something that I had seen coming for a while now. We have had a plan in place that we will unveil in the coming weeks that will position Illinois Football for sustained success in 2023 and for years to come.”
Weeks? I guess that means the announcement won’t come until just before the bowl game kicks off, an event that is now just under three weeks away.
Word is that Illinois will go in-house with this hire, and certainly that statement above seems to indicate that. Thus there are two leading candidates for the gig then, if such is this case. But in listing out our three leading candidates to become the next Illini DC, we had to include one figure currently outside the program.
Outside Linebackers Coach Kevin Kane
He’s already an Associate Head Coach in title, plus he’s called plays at both SMU and NIU. Kane’s outside linebackers had a great 2022, as Seth Coleman and Gabe Jacas combined for the most quarterback hits in the nation among edge duos.
Jacas was the team’s rookie of the year, and a Freshman All-American after totaling 31 tackles, 5.0 TFLs, and 4.0 sacks, the second-most sacks by an Illini true freshman in program history.
Linebackers Coach Andy Buh
The other assistant on staff with DC experience on his resume, he called the shots on that side of the ball for both Rutgers and Maryland previously. Buh’s defense allowed just one 300-yard passer in his first season at Maryland and allowed just 212.3 passing yards per game on the season
Former Wisconsin Interim Head Coach/DC Jim Leonhard
Are we going to have a reunion with Bielema? You know Bret is going to make some calls about this gig, and this is definitely a guy in his contacts. Leonhard excelled calling plays at UW, and he took over as caretaker boss when WIS fired Paul Chryst mid-season.
It seemed a strange decision at the time, but made a ton of sense later when Luke Fickell came in. Leonhard is still deciding on his next gig, is he waiting for a job with the Green Bay Packers?
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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