PURDUE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 14, 2022

Ryan Walters

Press Conference

Q. Why was it so important for your first order of business to give Devin a scholarship?

RYAN WALTERS: Well, I played against him, so I know exactly what he was capable of. He was hard to bring down, hard to tackle.

In watching and evaluating tape throughout that week, I thought he was in the upper echelon of the running backs we had faced or were going to face this past season.

Found out he was not on scholarship, and you know, now I'm like, shoot, this guy needs a scholarship, and I'm reminding myself like, well, yeah, you're the head coach, so you can do that (Laughter).

So talked to Mike about it and he thought it would be a great idea and I knew we were having a team meeting, and I thought, shoot, why not first order of business, do what's right and that's give Devin a scholarship.

Q. You talked in generalities about your offense. Can you give us any specifics on what you plan to do offensively? And give us an idea of where you are with your staff and how soon will you start making hires?

RYAN WALTERS: The staff members I'm talking to, potential candidates for our offensive coordinator job, you know, they are going to operate out of primarily 11 and 12 personnel.

We are going to be balanced in the sense of, if it requires us to run a ball to win a game, we are going to run it. If it requires us to pass it to win a game, we are going to pass it.

As far as what type of schemes, I believe in using all 11. That doesn't mean our quarterback is going to be running around like crazy, but if he can get us a couple first downs in the game, that's awesome, and making the defense play with all 11 individuals on the field as far as in the run game, we are going to mix up zone and gap schemes. We'll run inside zone, outside zone, some zone read and then we will run counter, GT. We will get creative in our personnel groupings and formations. So if we've got 12 personnel out there, we could have the potential of being empty. We can give you an 11 picture or give you a 21 picture, right. So we'll be creative that way.

Like I said earlier, we will be strategically aggressive. I want our offense to do the things that I hate seeing on Saturdays as a defensive coordinator. I think there's a misnomer out there that defensive head football coach, all of a sudden they want to condense down the game and get good stats.

I'm not into stats. I want to win games. Obviously I have a quarterback background. I want our quarterbacks to have success here and we are going to be high-powered and high-flying offense.

Q. The transfer portal, you're experience maneuvering and working in the portal, and also, how you feel, I know you haven't been on the job long, about your ability to retain most of the guys on this roster?

RYAN WALTERS: That's what we are working through right now. My job right now is to get to know these guys. You know, start building trust and respect with the players in the locker room, and then you know, from there, identifying what our needs are from a personnel standpoint, what your numbers are and what holes we need to fill and whether that's with a high school recruit or transfer portal, that will be it.

But again, that's all stuff that we are working through right now. I've been on the job for 48 hours.

Q. Are you going to call the defense or are you going to have a defensive coordinator call the defense?

RYAN WALTERS: I'm going to have a defensive coordinator but I do believe that what I do is unique. I'm not shy in saying I think I'm the best defensive coordinator in the country right now. I think the numbers speak for themselves.

And so you know, I would not relinquish those duties unless I felt comfortable. So the defensive side of the ball has to be taken care of. If that's with me, then that needs to be with me but if I feel comfortable with the staff that we bring in and their abilities to do it as a high level as I could, or better, then I'll do what's best for the program.

Q. How do you feel about Purdue's NIL and collective situation? Do you think it's a situation you can succeed with at the Big Ten level?

RYAN WALTERS: Absolutely. That was one of the things that's very attractive to me about this opportunity. Our administration, Mike here, has done a great job with the collective and we'll be in the upper echelon of the Big Ten.

Q. From speaking to current recruits, I know you can't get into specifics, but I know you reached out to them last night. What was that message like?

RYAN WALTERS: It was good to get on the phone with all of them, letting them know that they fell in love with this place for a reason. And I know things have changed like the status quo was not the status quo, right, but I'm excited to be their head coach and I'm looking forward to getting know them and getting on the recruiting trail.

As soon as we break here, I'm going to hit the ground running and start to get in front of people.

Q. Continuing with the recruiting, speaking to coaches around the state and around the area, they know you from your success at Illinois, but they don't know a ton about you locally. What's your message to those local coaches, the in-state coaches that have made the programs that continue to help Purdue's talent (go) to Purdue?

RYAN WALTERS: My message to them is I can't wait to get to know you. We are going to try to put a fence up around this state. There is a lot of high-quality football, not only talent from a player's stance but really great coaches in this state.

So Indiana is going to be a priority for us in the recruiting department.

Q. You mentioned keeping guys committed to the program. What have those conversations been like and what do you hope for them to be like to keep guys committed to Purdue?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, you know, like I mentioned earlier, those conversations have been -- been positive and productive.

Obviously this is a world-class institution. From an academic standpoint, this is the best conference in college football. You can achieve everything that you want to from an on the field and off the field standpoint right here at Purdue. That aspect of the commitment has not changed. The only thing that's changed is the guys in the building will be a little bit different.

So it's my job for them to get to know me and for me to get them to believe in the direction and the principles that we are preaching.

Q. Being a defensive guy, you touched on this earlier when you want to do in offense, but as an offensive coordinator specifically what traits are you looking for?

RYAN WALTERS: First off, everybody in the building first and foremost is going to be high-character guys. No egos. Nobody can care who gets the credit.

Then from there, we have to be high football IQ. We are going to teach these guys football, not just schematics but really how to play the game from both sides of the ball so we are not reacting to things on Saturday. We will be anticipating things throughout the course of the game in order to win football games.

Q. There's a Purdue Football here in two and a half weeks. What will your involvement be, if at all, in preparation for that game?

RYAN WALTERS: I won't have any involvement preparation-wise. This is their season. I want to allow them to continue and put a stamp on the success that they have had this year.

I will be at the game. I will watch the game. I'm not evaluating anybody. I'm not making suggestions. But I am excited to see them go compete. I know from competing against them, I know what kind of competitors are in that locker room, and I will be cheering harder than anybody else for them to get a W against the Tigers.

Q. We have talked a lot about offense. I guess without giving us the secret sauce unless you want to --

RYAN WALTERS: No.

Q. Tell us a little about your defense and what you do.

RYAN WALTERS: You know, like you said, without giving away the secret sauce, we are going to limit explosive plays. We are going to stop the run. We are going to confuse and harass the quarterback and it all holds true, we are going to generate a lot of turnovers. We are going to play fast.

We are going to play sound. There won't be any mental errors out there so we won't beat ourselves defensively. We will play with confidence and an extra sense of physicality.

Q. What's the No. 1 thing you look for in a recruit?

RYAN WALTERS: Do they love the game. You have to love football to be good at football. I think that's one thing that gets overlooked in the evaluation aspect of recruiting. Do they play football for the things that come with it?

Like are they more into who is following them on Twitter or how many likes they are getting on Instagram, or do they love the game for the game.

And if they love the game for the game, then you've got a chance to really maximize or realize their potential as fast as possible.

Q. I know you're still working on the staff but do you have anybody else in the building with you recruiting or are you going it alone?

RYAN WALTERS: I have the recruiting part of it that's here right now has really been helpful in giving me the information and setting up our priorities and where we need to be heading.

But yeah, right now, I'm the only one in the building.

Q. As of now, you're the fourth youngest head coach in the FBS. What have you learned to this point in your career? What are your biggest takeaways? Why was now the right time to make the jump to becoming a head coach?

RYAN WALTERS: Now was the right time, one, because I feel like I'm ready. And because of this opportunity, right. A lot of times, especially in this profession, it takes a little bit of luck in terms of opportunities coming and then you being ready for them when they arise, and that's been something that has held true for me throughout my career. I was young as a position coach, and it just kind of happened, right. The timing of it happened, and I got the job, and then I was young as a play caller and it just kind of happened, right.

So now, same thing, right. It was a different way of leading a search, and the timing of it but I'm more than ready. I've been ready and I can't wait to go to work and make this the best decision of Mike's career.

Q. This is obviously your first head coaching position, from your experience and what you've seen, what are the pillars to being a successful head coach that you're going to look to become?

RYAN WALTERS: First, the guys that I've been around and been successful as head coaches, they are the same guy every day. You can copy your practice face. You can mimic a calendar. But you can't try to be somebody you're not because if you are that means you're inconsistent and it's hard to be genuine, and it's hard to gain real relationships.

In this profession, because of the amount of time you spend with the amount of people that you spend in the building to have success, those relationships have to be real.

And so I will be authentic. I'm going to be me. I'm not going to try to be anybody else. This is how I've gotten this far in my career and because of that, I'll try to act fast and grain the trust and respect of young men in the locker room and hire guys that are like minded and really care about these individuals as individuals, because they are.

Q. First of all, do you have a timetable of when you would like to have a staff assembled? I know you want to get the right candidates, but realize what's quickly approaching here in a couple weeks.

RYAN WALTERS: That's a good question. You know, there are a couple guys that we are targeting pretty quickly that I've had on my radar for a long time. But at the same time, like we are going to go through the process and vet the process to make sure that we are getting the right guys in the building.

You get one shot at this deal. I want to have as much success as we can have as a program. In order to do that, we have to get the right guys in the building.

Q. Obviously this is your program and you'll put your own stamp on it but how important is it to build off the history and brand of what Purdue Football is?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, it's not a rebuild, right. I'm trying to elevate and really dive into it and understand the tradition and the standard here. It will be my job to raise that standard and continue to race and win championships.

Q. You mentioned in your intro message out there, the importance of talking to Purdue alums. You've obviously got a lot of people to meet and it's only been a few hours but have you had a chance to talk to any of them yet so far?

RYAN WALTERS: Just the ones that are like around the building. I got to meet a couple yesterday just walking through the administrative building as well. Like you said, it's been a crazy 48 hours.

But I can't wait to meet everyone and really get to know everybody. This is a place that you can grow roots and so I hope I'm here a long time.

Q. If I can push you a bit on the scheme of your defense, Purdue, while here under Jeff Brohm, was in a 4-2-5 most often. Whereas at Illinois it seemed to be mostly 3-4 with other looks mixed in. Would you be looking to transition out of that 4-2-5 to more of that three-lineman front or would it be adapting to personnel here?

RYAN WALTERS: Well, so that's -- my job as coach is to adapt to the players, right. Obviously I've got my own philosophies on scheme and alignment. But that's all for naught if the players can't -- aren't suited to do that, right.

It's funny you say a 3-4 because that's pretty much how people describe you because they see the three-down. But it's so unique that there's really no -- there's no name or if yet, you know what I mean. So I've got to think of a name for it.

Q. Out there you called Bret Bielema a mentor. What did the last two years with him in this conference help you develop, and what did that mean to you and what was his role of navigating you threw the process of becoming a head coach?

RYAN WALTERS: He was monumental in his role. I left the University of Missouri to go to Illinois to learn from him. Obviously he's got his own coaching tree and history of defensive coordinators that have gone on to be head coaches. You know, Dave Doeren at NC State has had success there and he was up under Coach B. Obviously he's had himself a successful year as a head coach.

So to be able to understand the ins and outs of being a CEO of a program and really his availability to me and the environment and culture he created to allow me to grow as a -- not only as a play-caller but as a CEO, and a leader, you know, those are lessons that I will take forever and I shall I'll call him to bounce some ideas off of him in the near future, as well.