Matt Painter

With five Sweet 16 appearances, 11 NCAA Tournament berths, three Big Ten regular-season championships, a Big Ten Tournament title and an international gold medal on his résumé, L. Dick Buell Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matt Painter is widely regarded as one of the brightest young minds in all of college basketball.

With a newly-signed contract to stay on board through the 2023-24 season with the five one-year extensions rolled in beginning during the summer of 2019, Painter has a chance to cement himself as not only the winningest coach in Purdue history, but as one of college basketball’s best coaches.

After reaching back-to-back Sweet 16s in 2017 and 2018, Painter once again proved his ability in 2019, leading a team that was supposed to fall back to the back to another Big Ten Championship and the Boilermakers’ first appearance in the Elite Eight since 2000. For his efforts, he was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coach of the Year. Entering the 2020-21 season, Painter owns a 362-179 (.669) record in 16 years as a head coach, while attaining a 337-174 (.659) mark at Purdue.

In just 15 seasons, Painter already ranks third on the school’s all-time wins list (337) behind legendary mentors, Gene Keady and Ward “Piggy” Lambert, both of whom have been inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Painter officially became the 18th head men’s basketball coach in Purdue history on April 8, 2005, and immediately set about laying the groundwork for a dramatic reversal in the program’s fortunes.