As time wound down during Purdue University's 72-50 men's basketball win Friday over Northern Kentucky, Mackey Arena's student section — known as The Paint Crew — began chanting “Fire Walters” as a critique of football coach Ryan Walters.
Athletic director Mike Bobinski was in attendance Friday night.
As reported by the Indianapolis Start, the chant brought a warning Saturday from the Purdue athletic department about “slandering our own coaches/players or the other team’s coaches/players.”
Walters' football Boilermakers fell to 1-8 on Saturday with a 45-0 loss at Ohio State.
The 13th-ranked basketball team hosted Yale on Monday, winning 92-84 without student-section incident, according to The Associated Press. “Anyone participating in any such chants including chanting about our football coach may be removed and have their membership revoked for the season,” the weekend message read.
The Star reached out to The Paint Crew official X.com account to clarify the message. A respondent confirmed Purdue Athletics “advised us to put out a message to our students condemning the negative activity that a chant like that brings.”
However, they also said the message originated from The Paint Crew itself and only reinforced language from an agreement all Paint Crew members sign at the start of the year. By signing that form, members agree to “be respectful” toward, among others, Purdue Athletics employees and Boilermakers and opposing coaches and players. That agreement lays out consequences such as removal from the event, a multi-game suspension or dismissal for the remainder of the season, Nathan Baird of the Star reported.
“We do not expect to have to carry out any negative actions, but we wanted to reiterate our position of being a very positive and respectful student section towards both the opposing schools as well as our own,” the respondent said.
A Purdue Athletics spokesperson said they were not aware of which person or people from the athletic department advised The Paint Crew to send the message. The spokesperson said the department maintains regular contact with leadership of both The Paint Crew and Ross-Ade Brigade, the football student section.
Purdue has curbed chants at sporting events before. Most notably, then-university President Mitch Daniels called for an end to the student section yelling "IU Sucks" at traditional moments during football and basketball games, regardless of opponent. Basketball coach Matt Painter had been outspoken in his opposition to that particular tradition.
Bobinski has not confirmed Walters’ job status for next season, according to Baird. Purdue football has lost eight consecutive games since opening Walters’ second season with a victory over Indiana State. The Boilermakers host to No. 4 Penn State at noon Saturday, then plays at Michigan State and No. 6 Indiana to finish the season.
