Barry Odom stepped to the podium in Las Vegas and Drew took some notes.
Boilermaker head coach Barry Odom is in Las Vegas for Big 10 media day(s) this afternoon. Here are some of the interesting points in what was a fairly standard media day press conference.
These are my notes and not direct quotes. I wanted to get this out quickly and give y’all something to talk about.
Barry Press Conference Notes
- Starts by thanking the media for their work.
- Says media days are the unofficial start to the season in his mind.
- Mentions the season starts in 37 games, and it’s a sprint to get the team ready.
- He has great respect for the Big 10 Conference and believes it’s the best conference in college sports.
- Purdue President Mung Chiang and Athletics Director Mike Bobinski for bringing him to Purdue.
- AD Bobinski and sport administrator Tiffini Grimes have been at every workout and thanks them for their support.
- The team is starting to take shape, and they are making great progress
- The team has established 16 core values called “The Purdue Way.”
- They’re building the program through toughness, consistency, togetherness, and teamwork.
- Thanks his coaching and support staff and says they have blended well together.
- He didn’t have anything to do with last year, or anything to do with what Purdue did three years ago when Purdue was in the Big 10 Championship.
- Will be defined by what they do and will take the approach of making Purdue football better every day, and will instill that in the players so they can be the best version of themselves.
- The team has characteristics of a winning team: a high level of commitment, enthusiasm, and is hungry to thrive in the process of what it takes to play winning football.
- Believes in the process of playing winning football at every position group and that it’s his staff’s job to get each group and individual to play their best early and offer.
- Will build the team around habits, alignment, and being together
- Players have done well in measurable areas like academic performance and strength gains in the weight room and explosive and speed numbers.
- Purdue football had a 3.24 cumulative GPA last semester
- Purdue will play complementary football
- Talks about offensive coordinator Josh Henson coming over from USC
- Has coached with defensive coordinator Mike Scherer at Arkansas and UNLV
- Special team coordinator James Shibest should give Purdue an advantage
- Mentions Players Purdue brought to media day:
- Devin Mockobee is 1,200 yards away from Purdue’s all-time leading rushing record and will graduate with a mechanical engineering degree in a couple of months.
- Tony Grimes is a senior corner who came with Odom from UNLV and is a leader in the locker room.
- CJ Madden is a defensive end who will end up being one of the guys in the mix and a leader up front.
- Says all the guys are a great reflection on Purdue University
Question
Asked about the differences he sees in college football now, as opposed to when he was a coach at Missouri.
- College football has changed more over the last three years than it has over the last 25 combined.
- Purdue will be a high school recruiting team
- Will be direct and select with Juco and transfers
- Says Purdue has an excellent recruiting department
- Turnover at Purdue is similar to the turnover when he arrived in Vegas