Ryan Walters (born January 21, 1986) is an American college football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the University of Washington.

He started for three seasons, helping the Buffaloes to two bowl games, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 Conference as a senior.

After various stops along the way, Walters was promoted to defensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers (2018–2020) and the Illinois Fighting Illini (2021–2022).

[6] The spring before his senior season, Walters committed to play college football at Colorado and head coach Gary Barnett.

[8] Sources: Walters was able to graduate high school early in December, and enrolled at the University of Colorado in January 2004.

His play impressed the Colorado coaching staff so much, that he was moved to the defensive side of the ball permanently.

[8] Against #3 Oklahoma, Walters intercepted a pass from quarterback Sam Bradford, which lead to an touchdown on the ensuing drive.

[18] In 2012, Walters worked as a graduate assistant under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, as the Sooners went 10–3 and played in the 2013 Cotton Bowl.

He spent the 2014 season as the cornerbacks coach for the Memphis Tigers helping them reach the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl.

On December 8, 2017, Odom promoted Walters to full-time defensive coordinator in 2018 in addition to serving as the secondary coach.

[26] In January 2021, a report surfaced that Walters was among three finalists to join Bret Bielema's new staff at Illinois.

Odom eventually elected to stay with Arkansas, and on January 6, 2021, Walters was announced as the new DC for the Illini.

[30] On December 13, 2022, Purdue University announced Walters as the 37th head football coach in program history.

[34] bringing in eleven transfers to help get instant depth,[35] including four offensive linemen and five defensive backs.

[36] The next week Walters achieved his first win at Purdue with a 24–17 victory over Virginia Tech[37] and followed that with a blowout loss (35–20) at home against Syracuse.

Heading into week 5, Walters and his team hosted Illinois, as they looked to improve 2–3 on the season, but would dominate their rivals during homecoming, winning the game 44–19.

With frustrations of how the offense was playing, Purdue went into Minnesota and won their biggest game of the season with a 49–30 win over the Golden Gophers.

[43] His second season as Purdue head coach began with a 49–0 victory over the Indiana State Sycamores at the Ross-Ade Stadium.

[52] The following week, Purdue traveled to East Lansing, MI losing a close game to Michigan State 24–17.