Purdue Sports: The 2022 Year In Review

The 2022 calendar year is in the books and quite a year it was for Purdue football and basketball, as newsy a year as there’s maybe ever been, setting up what could also be a fascinating 2023. Here’s a look both back and ahead.

The top stories of 2022 …

5. THE PURDUE ROSS-ADE PROJECT RESUMES

Not all that long after the pandemic threatened the financial viability of every athletic department in America and put Purdue’s ambitious Ross-Ade Stadium project on indefinite hold, ground broke this winter on the first phase of the project.

Phase 1 of the project is highlighted by the construction of a tunnel connecting Purdue’s locker room area to the stadium; the closing of the south end zone area and the addition of an athletic department dining area/nutrition center to be located outside the north gates, directly across from the Kozuch Center.

PDF: Renderings of the new Ross-Ade Stadium

Most of the project is expected to be complete in time for the 2023 season.

4. THE 2021-2022 PURDUE BASKETBALL SEASON REACHES NEW HEIGHTS, BUT FALLS SHORT

Led by eventual NBA lottery pick Jaden Ivey, Purdue’s highest-drafted player since Glenn Robinson, the Boilermakers reached No. 1 nationally for the first time in school history, largely due to an emergent performance at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun, where the Boilermakers’ wins over Villanova and North Carolina past them into the national spotlight.

That historic feat in Purdue basketball history, though, didn’t age well. The Boilermakers’ stay at No. 1 didn’t last long, as Ron Harper Jr.’s improbable buzzer-beater at Rutgers knocked Purdue from that perch and set a tone for a Big Ten season in which the Boilermakers were the best team in the conference, only to finish as both runner-up for the regular season and postseason tournament titles.

After wins over Yale and Texas in Milwaukee, Purdue suffered one of the most disappointing losses the program has seen, falling in Philly to 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s.

As it would turn out, though, Purdue would find itself back atop the polls faster than anyone could have ever imagined.

3. PURDUE FOOTBALL WINS THE BIG TEN WEST

For the first time since the Big Ten split into divisions, Purdue appeared in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis after winning the West. It was a bit of an uneven run, but Purdue’s ability to win at Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana — plus a little help from Nebraska, which upset Iowa late in the season — got Jeff Brohm’s final Purdue team to Indy, where it fell to Michigan, but nevertheless got to celebrate a championship and “settled” for the program’s first-ever Citrus Bowl appearance and its first New Year bowl since the Tiller Era.

Purdue has been ravaged by coaching departures, opt-outs and other circumstances prior to the Jan. 2 meeting with LSU, but it’s still a major feat in the Boilermakers’ football history.

2. PURDUE BASKETBALL BOUNCES RIGHT BACK

Just a year after reaching No. 1 nationally for the first time ever, Purdue did it again, beyond all reasonable expectation.

Paced by Player-of-the-Year front-runner Zach Edey, Matt Painter’s team ended December as one of just two unbeatens in college basketball, ranked first nationally and looking like it might be set up for sustained success.

Freshman guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer have not only been two of the better freshmen in the Big Ten, but college basketball in general. Purdue’s level of success to this point wouldn’t have been possible without their readiness.

Purdue’s now won 24 straight non-conference, regular season games, with this year’s run including the championship of the prestigious Phil Knight Legacy, where Purdue beat West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke.

This was supposed to be a transitional year for Purdue, but its resurgence has certainly earned the program a measure of validation as one of the strongest and most stable programs out there.

1. JEFF BROHM LEAVES; RYAN WALTERS TAKES OVER

After a successful six-year run at Purdue, football coach Jeff Brohm left for his alma mater, Louisville, closing out an extended sense of inevitability around the program once that job opened again. It didn’t play out as expected — Scott Satterfield was as good as fired at one point this fall, only to turn the Cardinals around and bolt for Cincinnati — but the outcome was something no one should have been surprised by.

To replace the offensive-minded Brohm, Purdue defied some measure of convention by hiring defensive-minded Ryan Walters from divisional rival Illinois. The 36-year-old first-time head coach is widely viewed as a rising star, and Purdue will hope — and need — that thought to prove to be reality as he takes over the department’s biggest moneymaker.

Adjacent to this story: The Big Ten’s lucrative new media rights deal and the upcoming additions of West Coast powers USC and UCLA. These changing dynamics around Big Ten football make this hire even more consequential as competitive and financial landscapes shift.

SPECIAL MENTION

• The tragic, untimely death of former Boilermaker All-American Caleb Swanigan cast a pall over Purdue and the college basketball world at large. He was only 25.

Swanigan’s death was tragic, but also part of a difficult year for Purdue as a whole, as Len Dawson, Dave Butz and Lee Rose were also Boilermaker luminaries who passed away this year.

• Mitch Daniels, Purdue’s president for the past decade, at which time significant investments were made in athletics under the watch of both Daniels and the Trustees, is retiring and handing off to incoming president Mung Chiang.

• It was a big year for Purdue and the pros. Ivey was basketball’s highest draft pick since Glenn Robinson, while George Karlaftis — now a Kansas City Chief — was football’s first first-round NFL pick since Ryan Kerrigan in 2011. Additionally, wide receiver David Bell was a third-round pick.

• The start of the Boilermaker Alliance NIL initiative reflected Purdue’s movement in this very era for college sports. Further, Drew Brees’ involvement, and that of several other former Purdue stars, added some heft to the project.

• It’s not football or basketball, but volleyball’s Eva Hudson just posted one of the all-time great freshman seasons at Purdue, probably regardless of sport.

• The improbable emergences of transfer Charlie Jones and walk-on Devin Mockobee made Purdue’s Big Ten West championship possible.