Purdue OC Jason Simmons: 'It's amazing how popular you become when something like this happens'

Please forgive new Purdue offensive coordinator Jason Simmons if he hasn’t returned your text message. At one point earlier this week, he had 188 unread texts. That’s what happens when you receive a battlefield promotion from analyst to offensive coordinator less than a year on the job.

“It’s amazing how popular you become when something like this happens,” said Simmons.

Simmons, 48, is tasked with breathing life into a moribund Boilermaker offense that has scored an aggregate 38 points the last three games. Not surprisingly, Purdue has lost all three.

Next up for Purdue and Ryan Walters: A game at Wisconsin (2-2 overall; 0-1 Big Ten) on Saturday at noon ET on BTN. Simmons will be perched in the Camp Randall Stadium press box as Purdue (1-3; 0-1) looks to save a season that’s threatening to careen into the ditch.

Simmons’ to-do list is long as he replaces Graham Harrell, who was on the job less than two years. A chief issue: The offense has struggled to convert on third downs. And the passing game has lacked rhythm and explosive plays. Can this attack be fixed?

“I think when you look at what we’ve done week in and week out through the first four weeks, there’s been flashes of really good things,” said Simmons.

One of the few things this offense has done well: run the ball.

“It’s just about trying to put our people in the best possible position to be successful,” said Simmons. “And so if you’re going to do that, we have to understand what our players are good at. We have to understand their traits, and what those traits are, and how we can maximize them as coaches. And that’s where the focus has been for us this week.”

Simmons brings 23 years of high school experience to the job, serving as a head coach at three high schools: Ben Davis, Noblesville and Hamilton Heights. He spent 2023 as running backs coach at his alma mater Miami (Ohio), where he was a defensive lineman for head coach Randy Walker.

“A lot of perspective,” said Simmons when asked what all that prep experience affords him. “You got to stand up in front of people, you got to lead a room, you got to lead adults, you got to lead young people. You got to be able to manage a lot of different things, wear a lot of different hats. And so I think that perspective has helped in the transition a little bit of just being able to manage and juggle because there’s a lot of moving pieces right now.”

Simmons had been spending his time helping with the receivers prior to his promotion. What can we expect from his offense?

“You can’t change up the terminology or anything like that midway through the year,” said QB Hudson Card. “But just getting to things in different ways, have plays that complement plays. It’s similar stuff to what we’re doing, just kind of dressing it up, and he’s kind of putting his own little layer to it.”

It has been a meteoric rise for Simmons, who was hired as an analyst at Purdue in early March. Now, seven months later, he finds himself running the offense of a Big Ten school, driving back and forth from his Indianapolis-area home and West Lafayette.

Simmons had a few connections to the Purdue staff before arriving. He knew Boilermaker RB coach Lamar Conard, whom he replaced at Miami. And he also knew Purdue G.M. Noah Joseph from Joseph’s days as an assistant at Indiana.

“I think when Coach Walters called me and said, ‘Hey, I have this opportunity. Are you interested?’ ” said Simmons. “It took me about a three and a half minute conversation with Coach Walters to think, to believe in his vision, to believe in who he is. It gave me an opportunity to coach football in the Big Ten, to be honest with you. When you’re in one of the Power Four conferences, it’s my home state … it’s just an opportunity for me to continue to grow and shoot my shot.”

Surprisingly, Simmons had no one-on-one conversation with Walters prior to learning about his new position. Simmons found out about it along with everyone else during a Sunday offensive staff meeting. Was Simmons shocked?

“I think when you’re in the situation that we’re in right now, it’s more about what are we going to do?” said Simmons. “And then we got to put a plan in place to go get the work, because the players, the program, the community, all of our people that support our program deserve the best out of us, week in and week out. And so for us, it’s about putting a plan in place to go give our people what they expect, and quite honestly, what we feel like the standard of Purdue football should be.”

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Purdue key 2024 offensive statistics

Offensive category	Average (Big Ten rank)
Scoring	21.8 (14th)
Total	322.0 (15th)
Rushing	149.8 (10th)
Passing	172.3 (15)
3rd down	35.2 (16th)
Plays of 10-plus yards	52 (13th)
Turnover margin	-1.5 (18th)