Why athletic director believes Purdue football is in 'really good spot'
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
WEST LAFAYETTE — Athletic director Mike Bobinski believes Purdue football is in “a really good spot” with revenue share resources and the transfer portal after watching coach Barry Odom’s staff operate over the past week.
In a roundtable with local reporters on Friday, Bobinski said that solid footing on resources traces back to tough decisions Odom made last fall. Of the roughly $14 million available to football from its allocation of the $20.5 million revenue share cap, Bobinski said Odom and general manager Brandon Lee only committed $6-7 million to last year's roster.
That decisions ensured more fund available for transfer portal additions going into Odom’s second season. It also likely inhibited the team’s upside during what turned into a 2-10 season and a second straight winless campaign in the Big Ten Conference.
Bobinski said he signed off on that fiscal strategy. He called it a “function of who was available to us.”
Additionally, front-loading some agreements in the spring of 2025 — before revenue share spending limits went into effect — helped ensure more available resources this fall.
Bobinski said they will have " several million dollars" worth of third-party name, image and likeness opportunities beyond the revenue share cap.
“They intentionally reserved a fairly significant amount for this window,” Bobinski said, “knowing that they would have a better sense of what our true needs were, what our core returnees might be. And then where we had positions of needs, we wanted to have the resources to be able to go out and get guys who could actually contribute and contribute in a quick way.”
As of Friday afternoon, Purdue has added 15 players through the portal. Among departing players, five have transferred to other power conference programs.
Bobinski said he expected the football staff to use some of those funds for up-front payments, either for returning players signing new deals or players transferring in. Those revenue share funds expire June 30 and a new cap amount — $21.32 million for 2026-27.
During the discussion, deputy athletics director Ken Halpin confirmed Purdue football has 78 players on revenue share contracts for next season. Some are still pending approval, and that number could grow as more players decide to transfer in.
Bobinski said Purdue is also adding 52 scholarships throughout the athletic department in 2026. Some of that number will go to football, which can have up to 105 scholarships. Purdue plans to have 95 scholarships funded for football.
Bobinski hired Odom in part based on his immediate and dramatic resurrection of UNLV.
UNLV won 29 games in nine seasons before Odom’s arrival. It won nine games in his first season, 10 in his second, and played in the Mountain West Conference championship game in both.
While Purdue arguably competed better in its first year under Odom, the margin for error remained far to small to result in Big Ten victories.
Purdue ranked 14th in yards per play and 16th in scoring offense. The defense ranked 17th in yards allowed per play and 16th in points allowed per game.
The Boilermakers lost at Minnesota and at home to Rutgers on late-game turnovers. They gave No. 21 Michigan a scare in Ann Arbor in a 21-16 loss. They were also pummeled in their final two games – at Washington, with Walters as defensive coordinator, and at home to IU.
Bobinksi admitted the talent gap was apparent in several games. Results relative to that talent gap are one of the reasons he remains optimistic about what Odom can accomplish.
“As well as we did, given that, in some cases was to me a sign of encouragement for the future,” Odom said. “I have no doubt that this will be an ultimately successful endeavor under coach Odom’s leadership. I literally have no doubt about that whatsoever.
“We’re going to do it in a way that’s going to be sustainable. We’re not looking for a one-year success.”
Nathan Baird and Sam King have the best Purdue sports coverage, and sign up for IndyStar's Boilermakers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski on football team's revenue share, NIL
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos