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Purdue names new offensive coordinator after firing Graham Harrell

Spenser Davis

By Spenser Davis

Published:

Purdue coach Ryan Walters has named a new offensive coordinator 1 day after parting ways with Graham Harrell.

The Boilermakers will move forward with Jason Simmons in that role. Simmons was previously an analyst on Purdue’s coaching staff.

Simmons joined Purdue as an analyst this past offseason. He was previously the running backs coach at Miami (Ohio) in 2023. Simmons also has play-calling experience at lower levels of college football and at the high school level.

He was the head coach at Ben Davis High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) from 2018-22. He also previously served as the head coach and offensive coordinator at Noblesville High School.

Walters told reporters on Monday that this move is being made in order to keep some continuity going since they’re already in the middle of the 2024 campaign.

“The thought process is, you know, obviously you can’t wholesale change in the middle of the season,” Walters said. “You know, guys know the vocabulary, and there are a lot of things that we do conceptually that give us a chance. So we didn’t want to wholesale change.”

Walters also said he didn’t want to promote a position coach into this role and “disrupt the flow” of those coaches.

Purdue will go on the road to face Wisconsin on Saturday.

Spenser Davis

Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.