Source: Graham Harrell hired as Purdue offensive coordinator
New Purdue coach Ryan Walters has made his first staff hire: Graham Harrell will be the offensive coordinator, GoldandBlack.com has learned. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg first reported the news.
The 37-year-old Harrell comes to Purdue from West Virginia, where he was offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2022. WVU (5-7 overall; 3-6 Big 12) is No. 9 in passing (227.5 ypg), total offense (399.0 ypg) and scoring (30.6 ppg) in the Big 12 this season.
Prior to working in Morgantown for Neal Brown, Harrell was OC at USC for Clay Helton from 2019-21. Harrell also was offensive coordinator at North Texas from 2016-18 for Seth Littrell.
A native of Brownwood, Texas, Harrell began his coaching career at Oklahoma State in 2009 for Mike Gundy before working as receivers coach at Washington State from 2014-15 for Mike Leach.
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Harrell’s offenses are known for being wide-open attacks built around strong passing games as he is a disciple of the late Leach, who was famous for his “Air Raid” offenses at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State.
In 2021, USC paced the Pac-12 and ranked No. 17 nationally in passing (298.3 ypg) and No. 24 in total offense (443.9 ypg). In 2020, USC’s passing attack ranked No. 11 nationally (first in Pac-12) at 319.3 yards per game.
Prior to his three-year run at USC, Harrell posted back-to-back top-25 offenses at North Texas.
Harrell was a record-setting quarterback for Leach at Texas Tech from 2005-08, becoming a Heisman finalist in 2008. He finished his career with an NCAA-record 134 touchdown passes, the second-most career yards in NCAA history (15,793) and the third-highest career passing average (351.0).
Harrell played in the NFL for the Packers and Jets and also had a stint in the CFL.
The latest in Walters’ staff hires here: LINK
