Ryan Walters
Ryan Walters went 5–19 as a head coach, 2023–2024, at Purdue. Share
- Record
- 5–19 career
- Seasons
- 2
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jan 21, 1986
- Alma mater
- Colorado 2008
- Best season
- 2023 4–8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Purdue | 4–8 | T–4th | |||
| 2024 | Purdue | 1–11 | 18th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 8 | 0–8 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 6 | 0–6 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Conference games | 18 | 3–15 | 17% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 8 | 2–6 | 25% |
| At home | 13 | 4–9 | 31% |
| On the road | 11 | 1–10 | 9% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 6 | 4–2 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 18 | 1–17 | 6% |
His own 24 games on file, 2023–2024, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Indianaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Illinoisseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Northwesternseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Nebraskaseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Ohio Stateseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Wisconsinseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Minnesotaseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Virginia Techseries | 1 | 1–0 |
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Colorado | Student assistant | |
| 2010 | Arizona | Graduate assistant | |
| 2011 | Arizona | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2012 | Oklahoma | Graduate assistant | |
| 2013 | North Texas | Cornerbacks coach | |
| 2014 | Memphis | Cornerbacks coach | |
| 2015 | Missouri | Safeties coach | |
| 2016–17 | Missouri | Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2018–20 | Missouri | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2021–22 | Illinois | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2023–24 | Purdue | Head coach | |
| 2025–present | Washington | Defensive coordinator |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Dan HawkinsColorado
- Mike StoopsArizona
- Tim KishArizona
- Bob StoopsOklahoma
- Dan McCarneyNorth Texas
- Justin FuenteMemphis
- Gary PinkelMissouri
- Barry OdomMissouri
- Eli DrinkwitzMissouri
- Bret BielemaIllinois
- Jedd FischWashington
Worked under (11)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Hawkins | Colorado | 2009 | Student assistant | |
| Mike Stoops | Arizona | 2010–11 | 2010: graduate assistant; 2011: defensive backs coach | |
| Tim Kish | Arizona | 2011 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Bob Stoops | Oklahoma | 2012 | Graduate assistant | |
| Dan McCarney | North Texas | 2013 | Cornerbacks coach | |
| Justin Fuente | Memphis | 2014 | Cornerbacks coach | |
| Gary Pinkel | Missouri | 2015 | Safeties coach | |
| Barry Odom | Missouri | 2016–19 | 2016–17: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2018–19: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Eli Drinkwitz | Missouri | 2020 | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Bret Bielema | Illinois | 2021–22 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Jedd Fisch | Washington | 2025–26 | Defensive coordinator |
Coached under him (6)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Brick Haley | Purdue, 2023–24: defensive line coach | |
| Graham Harrell | Purdue, 2023–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Kevin Kane | Purdue, 2023–24: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Matt Mattox | Purdue, 2023: offensive line coach | |
| Seth Doege | Purdue, 2023: tight ends coach | |
| Jason Simmons | Purdue, 2024: offensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missouri | co-defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $120,000 | $375,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Missouri | co-defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $110,200 | $363,800 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Walters’s teams went for it on 22% of fourth downs and on 31% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 26.5 seconds a play, 2023–2024.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 12 g | 27 of 107 25% | 36% | 49% | 25.0 | −0.02 | |
| 2024 11 g | 16 of 90 18% | 23% | 54% | 28.1 | −0.12 | |
| All 23 g | 43 of 197 22% | 31% | 51% | 26.5 | −0.07 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.