SIDELINES : Purdue Hires Ex-CSF Coach; He’ll Scrap Run-and-Shoot Tactic
Jim Colletto, former offensive coordinator at Ohio State and a former head coach at Cal State Fullerton, was hired today as head football coach at Purdue University and said he would scrap the run-and-shoot offense used by his predecessor, Fred Akers.
Akers resigned under pressure last week.
Colletto, who was an assistant coach at Purdue from 1982 to ‘84, told a news conference today, “We’re going to junk the run-and-shoot, go back to the offense we did with (former Purdue quarterbacks) Jim Everett and Scott Campbell.”
Colletto’s five-year contract is worth $110,000 per year, plus such perks as a shoe contract and television and radio shows.
Colletto, 45, was head coach at Cal State Fullerton from 1975 to ‘79, spent three years as an assistant at his alma mater, UCLA, and was offensive coordinator at Purdue in 1982-84.
Colletto, a native of Monterey, Calif., played football and baseball at UCLA. He led UCLA in rushing as a sophomore fullback in 1963 and was captain of the 1965 team that beat Michigan State in the Rose Bowl.
Purdue was 2-9 this past season, and Akers compiled a 12-31-1 mark over the past four years.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
