WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue football has its front-runner for the 2025 season and beyond. He led one of college football’s greatest resurgences over the last two seasons. Barry Odom has been named the new head football coach of the Purdue Boilermakers, the executive vice president and director of athletics announced Mike Bobinski on Sunday.


Odom just led UNLV football to its most successful season in 40 years and has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments over his coaching career, which includes stints as head coach in both the Southeastern Conference with Missouri (2016-19) and the Mountain West Conference with the Rebels (2023-24). UNLV has amassed a total of 19 wins during the time Odom led the Rebels, making it the winningest two-year stretch in the school’s history as a Division I program. As a head coach, he has secured four postseason appearances in six seasons, including two (2017 Texas Bowl, 2018 Liberty Bowl) bowl bids at Missouri.


“This is an exciting day as we announce head coach Barry Odom as the new leader of the Purdue Boilermakers,” Bobinski said. “As both a leader and a person, Coach Odom embodies the qualities that our football program and our university value. During our conversations with Coach Odom, it was clear that he has the belief, tenacity and competitive drive necessary to return Purdue Football to the standard of excellence we all expect. He is a proven and experienced leader who has helped two different football programs achieve success and has impacted the lives of countless student-athletes, staff and position coaches throughout his football career, including during his time as a standout defensive coordinator and position coach at Missouri, Memphis and Arkansas.


“We are delighted to welcome Barry, his wife Tia and children JT, Garyt and Anna to the Boilermaker family. Our entire department stands ready to fully support Coach Odom in the transition to Purdue as he meets with our current student-athletes, assembles his coaching staff and begins building a successful football program.


Odom, 48, becomes the 38th head coach in Purdue football history, coming to West Lafayette on the heels of arguably the most impressive gridiron campaign in UNLV school history. The Rebels achieved double-digit wins for only the third time in program history (1974, 1984), with the previous two seasons coming before the program’s promotion to Division I and the Mountain West Conference, respectively. National recognition followed, as the Rebels earned a program-best ranking of No. 19 in both the AP and Coaches Polls, as well as their first-ever CFP ranking.


“It is with great honor and gratitude that I accept this opportunity to serve as head football coach at Purdue University,” Odom said. “To coach at an institution like Purdue, in a community like Greater Lafayette and for a proud, storied and hungry football program like the Boilermakers is a dream come true for me and my family. I want to thank Mike Bobinski for making the decision.” I want to lead Purdue football and would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to University President Mung Chiang and Board Chairman Mike Berghoff for their support. Your trust will be rewarded with a football program that reflects Purdue’s personality and excellence. Character, intensity and an uncompromising winning attitude will be the foundation of what we will build at Purdue, and I can assure you that it will be built to last will begin immediately in West Lafayette.


In his career as a head coach, Odom has an overall record of 44-32. His 19-8 record with the Rebels is significant because UNLV won just 20 games in the five seasons before his arrival (2017-22). Impressively, his UNLV teams posted a 10-2 record in true road games after the program had won a total of just eight road games in the previous six seasons (8-25).


In just two seasons, Odom dramatically changed expectations in Las Vegas: UNLV made it to the MWC Championship Game twice after the program had not made a single appearance in the event before his arrival. After Odom’s first season in Las Vegas (9-5, 6-2 MWC), he was named the 2023 Mountain West Coach of the Year. He was also named the program’s first finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. The 2023 season culminated in an appearance in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona.


Through Odom’s deft guidance, three Rebels earned All-America status and the program named its first First Team Academic All-American following the 2023 season. There have been six first-team All-MWC honorees in back-to-back seasons for the Rebels, including a school-record 12 combined honors between the conference’s first and second teams in 2024. The incoming Rebels also saw a rise in prominence. with Odom’s 2025 signees among the top class in the Mountain West.


Odom was also an influential defensive coordinator at Memphis (2012-14), Missouri (2015) and Arkansas (2020-22). With the Razorbacks, Odom served as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Its 2021 defense turned heads as it allowed just 22.9 points per game – 12 fewer points per game than in 2020 and the fewest for an Arkansas defense since 2014. The unit focused on run defense and thrived that way , that she only allowed 153.9 yards per game. the fewest for Arkansas since 2015. Under Odom’s watch, Arkansas’ 18 takeaways in 2020 ranked the campaign 25th nationally. The Razorbacks’ 13 interceptions were the second-most in the SEC and 13th in the FBS.


During his first job as defensive coordinator at Memphis in 2012, he transformed the Tigers into a defensive power. In 2014, its defense ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (17.1 points per game) and 22nd nationally in total defense (343.3 yards per game), helping the Tigers to a 10-3 finish . It was an incredible turnaround for a Memphis team that ranked 117th in total defense before he arrived. Under Odom, the program improved defensively every year, rising from 50th nationally in total defense in 2012 to 39th in 2013 to 22nd in his senior year.


Before moving to Fayetteville, Odom was Missouri’s head coach for four seasons, taking two of his teams to bowl games and hitting .500 or better three times to post an overall record of 25-25 from 2016 to 2019. His 2018 Missouri squad finished the regular season ranked 23rd in the College Football Playoff poll.


Odom, respected in the coaching community for his tireless journey to the top, was promoted to head coach at Missouri following the resignation of Gary Pinkel, for whom he worked in two different roles during his time on staff at Missouri. From 2003 to 2011, Odom served as a graduate assistant, recruiting director, director of football operations and safeties coach for the Tigers. After returning from his three seasons in Memphis, Odom served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2015 before moving up before the 2016 season.


Odom was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and grew up in Maysville, Oklahoma. He was a four-year letterwinner at linebacker for Missouri from 1996 to 1999, helping the school to two bowl trips and serving as team captain during his senior season. He finished his MU career in the program’s top 10 all-time with 362 tackles.


Odom graduated from Missouri in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in education and received his master’s degree in education from the school in 2004. He and his wife Tia have two sons, JT and Garyt, and a daughter, Anna.


Odom will be introduced at a welcome event Tuesday morning (Dec. 10) at Mackey Arena. The event is open to the public and doors open at 8:30 a.m. (ET) before introductions begin at 9:00 a.m. (ET). Parking is open around the arena and Ross-Ade Stadium.


Boilermaker fans – get ready for the Odom era at Ross-Ade Stadium! Season ticket renewals and new sales begin Tuesday, December 10 at 10 a.m. ET.