Dodgeball? Escape rooms? For Purdue's Ryan Walters, it was all about fostering team unity

For Purdue coach Ryan Walters, it was all about fostering a family feel in the buildup to the 2024 season, which kicks off on Saturday vs. Indiana State at noon ET (BTN).

And it sounds like his efforts to have teammates bond have paid off.

“I would say this is probably the closest team I’ve been around,” said Walters, “and that’s not only as a head coach, but as an assistant, as well. I think we did a lot of things in the winter, in the spring, in the summer to provide opportunities for organic relationships to form.”

There were escape rooms, fishing, dodgeball, breakout sessions. Walters was looking for any way to enhance the feeling of fellowship as he embarks on his second season at the helm of the Boilermakers.

“We took them to escape rooms in town,” said Walters. “So, that kind of forced people to communicate with each other and got to see who was able to get out of there the fastest. So, you got to see leadership, you got to see problem solving, and you got to just see them interact.”

The goal coming off a 4-8 season: Reach the postseason, which according to prognosticators won’t happen. Walters is nonplussed, keeping his head down and–in football parlance–grinding.

All the while, he’s made sure everyone inside the Kozuch Football Performance Complex threw an arm around each other to form a brotherly “we are family” bond.

Given the amount of new faces, getting to know each other was vital.

“I think the guys have done a really good job of reaching out to guys in the locker room that they wouldn’t normally hang out with just to get to know each other,” said Walters. “I think that showed up in the way we practice. There wasn’t a whole lot of fights out there. There was guys that were competing at a high level but also taking care of each other.”

How much has the roster changed? The staff imported 20 players (including walkons) from the portal. Three junior college transfers also were brought on board, in addition to 23 freshmen. Where are the “Hello, my name is …” name tags?

The getting-to-know-you began with some fellowship at a restaurant in the Village adjacent to campus.

“We rented out The Tap for one of the playoff games and made guys sit with people they didn’t know,” said Walters. “So, you got to, you know, just break bread, have fellowship, watch some ball, kind of an icebreaker there.”

And much thought was given when it was time to choose teams for various activities in the winter and spring.

“One of the first things we did, we created teams of six, seven, eight guys, and we’re strategic about who was on those teams,” said Walters. “It was a guy returning, a guy that was incoming in January, different position groups, different backgrounds.”

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The dodgeball? It was epic.

“We brought them back to the indoor one night and again broke them up into different teams strategically, had a dodgeball tournament,” said Walters. “You got to see guys compete. That was the most competitive dodgeball I’ve ever seen. But got to see guys compete and have fun, again, nothing to do with football.”

Now, Purdue will get to see if all of its team bonding pays off. Knocking off an Indiana State that won just one game in 2023 shouldn’t be an issue for the Boilermakers, who are favored by 32.5 points.

The bonding will be put the test, however, when Purdue begins to walk through the fire of one of the most challenging schedules in the Big Ten that includes Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State. How will Walters define success?

“I think I would be better suited to answer that question at the end of the season,” he said. “Right now, the success for us is scoring more points than Indiana State on Saturday. So, yeah, that’s my answer to that question.”

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