Recently fired Big Ten head coach emerges as Washington football DC possibility

Washington football head coach Jedd Fisch is searching for a new defensive coordinator as Steve Belichick is leaving the Huskies to coach with his dad at North Carolina. Washington needs to make a new hire, and former Purdue head coach Ryan Walters is reportedly an option. Walters was just fired after a couple of rough years with the Boilermakers.

“Former Purdue head coach Ryan Walters has emerged as a possibility to replace Steve Belichick as Washington’s defensive coordinator, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports,” Matt Zenitz said in a post. “Before Purdue, Walters was one of the nation’s top defensive coordinators at Illinois and Missouri.”

Ryan Walters went 4-8 and 1-11 as head coach at Purdue. Now, it is looking like he might go back to being a defensive coordinator, and Washington is a team to watch.

Walters has a lot of experience as a defensive coordinator and coaching defense in general. He has been coaching since 2009 and he has been a CB/DB/S coach at four schools for a total of four years. He has also worked as a DC at two different schools and had experience in that position from 2016-2022.

After showing that he was an elite coordinator, Walters received an opportunity to be a head coach, and he took it. He started coaching the Boilermakers in 2023, and it ended up being a failed experiment.

Things didn’t work out with Walters at Purdue, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work out if he becomes the DC for the Washington football team. He has shown that he can be successful in that role, and his work as a DC is what ultimately earned him a head coaching job.

This is obviously all just speculation at this point, but Washington will definitely want to fill that role as soon as possible. Once a team zones in on a target, the process typically moves along pretty quickly.