Matt Painter

Matt Painter

Matt Painter (b. August 27, 1970, Muncie, Indiana) is an NCAA men's basketball head coach at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Playing Days

Purdue

1989–1993

Matt Painter attended Delta High School in Muncie, Indiana and played basketball for current Athletic Director, Stan Daugherty. After high school, he attended Purdue University as an undergraduate, although he grew up in an Indiana family, where his father attended. He played four seasons of basketball as a Boilermaker under Gene Keady, where he helped lead the Boilermakers to three NCAA Tournaments and one NIT appearance. He was teammates with the likes of Jimmy Oliver and Glenn Robinson. He started 50 of the 109 games in which he appeared and helped his team to a 75-45 overall record. In his senior season, he was selected as a team captain and was named an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention. Painter finished his career averaging 4.5 ppg and totaling 276 assists.

Coach Painter

Washington & Jefferson College, Barton College, Eastern Illinois

1993–1998

After graduation from Purdue in 1993, Painter moved on to coaching basketball. His first year as a coach was an assistant coach position at Washington and Jefferson College. With his help, the team finished the season with a 22-3 record and a quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament. He only coached at Washington and Jefferson for one year before becoming an assistant coach at Barton College. In the 1994-95 season Barton finished with 13 wins and 13 losses. Painter then moved to Division I as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois of the Ohio Valley Conference, where he also received his master's degree.

Southern Illinois

1998–2004

File:Painter SIU.jpg

After three years at Eastern Illinois he moved to Southern Illinois in 1998 as an assistant to head coach Bruce Weber. Painter was previously aquainted with Weber while Weber was an assistant coach at Purdue during Painter's playing days. Weber and Painter quickly turned a team that had a losing record the previous season into a successful team. Painter helped lead the Salukis to the NIT in 2000, and twice to the NCAA tournament while an assistant coach. In the 2001-02 season, they qualified for the NCAA Tournament and ended their season in the Sweet Sixteen with a loss to UConn. That year, SIU beat well-established programs such as Georgia and Texas Tech. He took over the head coaching job following that 2002-2003 season when Weber left for a head coaching job at Illinois. Leading the Salukis to a 25-5 record and a berth in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, the team was ranked as high as #15 in the nation by the AP poll during the season. Painter was named the 2003-2004 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the year.

Purdue

2004-2005

In 2004, Painter was recruited by Purdue as the replacement for retiring head coach Gene Keady. He signed a six-year contract as the new Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball coach. As part of a planned transition, Painter was named the Associate Head Coach for the 2004–2005 season, whom finished with a 7-21 record. He joined former teammate Cuonzo Martin (now head coach at Missouri State) on the coaching staff.

2005-2006

At the start of the 2005–06 season, Matt Painter took over for Keady as the head coach at his alma mater. In his first season in that role, despite losing four starters and only playing with seven scholarships, they finished with a 9-19 record, which included wins against eventual NCAA Tournament qualifier Wisconsin and #23 Michigan.

2006-2007

In his second season as head coach, the team had high hopes for an NCAA berth. Carl Landry and David Teague both returned to the team, combining an average of about 34 points per game and 15 rebounds per game. Painter's Boilermakers finished the preseason with an 11-3 record, which included wins over previously unbeaten and top 25 schools Virginia and Missouri. They headed deep into the regular season without a road win. The team had also not won a road game in the two prior seasons during which Painter was part of the Boilermaker's bench. That 29 road game losing streak ended on February 3rd, 2007, when Purdue beat Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center. After winning seven of their last ten conference games during the regular season and setting a single-season school record for most home wins at 16, Painter and his Boilermakers finished the regular season with a 9-7 conference record. They received a 5th seed in the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, and were knocked out in the third round when they lost to number one seed Ohio State. Purdue was invited to the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Painter's second appearance as a head coach, and received a 9 seed. The team's opening round opponent was Lute Olson's Arizona. After beating the Wildcats, Purdue fell to Billy Donovan's number one seeded and defending national champions, Florida.

2007-2008

Coming off one of the program's biggest single season improvements, Painter returned only one senior on the roster with 6 newcomers. Painter achieved notable recruiting success, signing one of the top five recruiting classes in the nation for 2007, all coming from the state of Indiana. Painter started at least three freshmen in every game at the start of the '07-'08 season, making it the youngest starting line-up in the nation. His "baby boilers" finished the non-conference season with a 9-4 record, which included a win against Rick Pitino's #22 ranked Louisville, as well as a loss to Wofford, their only home loss of the season. During an eleven game winning streak in conference play, they swept the season series with the conference champion #8 Wisconsin and had a home win against #9 Michigan State. It was the first back-to-back wins versus top ten teams in school history. Their winning streak was ended when they lost to in-state rival, #14 Indiana. Painter and his Boilers finished the regular season in 2nd place with a 15-3 record. During the regular season and into the conference tournament, Purdue was ranked as high as #15 in both polls. Painter's team entered the Big Ten Tournament with the #2 seed. They lost in the quarterfinals to the 10th seeded Illinois. They were invited to the 2008 NCAA Tournament and given a #6 seed. Painter's team beat Baylor in the first round, giving Purdue it's 10th straight first round win in the tournament. They lost in the second round to the Xavier team, giving Painter a 2-3 record in NCAA tourney play as a head coach. He was named the 2007-2008 Big Ten Conference Coach of The Year. The Boilers finished the season with a 25-9 record, the program's best in ten years.

2008–2009

Painter's Boilermakers began the 2008-2009 season with an ESPN/USA Today Poll rank at #10 and an AP Top 25 #11 ranking. They had five returning starters from the prior season, including Chris Kramer, the conferences' defensive player of the year and two all-conference selections in E'Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel. Painter's Boilers opened the season with a 5-0 record. In the first game of the season, his team set the school record for fewest tournovers in a game, only committing 3, against Detroit on November 14, 2008. With a #9 ranking, Purdue had their first losses of the season back-to-back in overtime to #13 ranked Oklahoma in the NIT Season Tip-Off championship game and a 16 point home loss against #4 Duke. They finished the pre-season with an 11-2 record, which included a win against #22 Davidson. Purdue is currently second in the conference after losing their opening home and road conference games to Illinois and Penn State.

Personal life

Painter and his wife, Jerri, have three children: Maggie, Brayden and Emma.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley Conference) (2003–2004)
2003–2004	Southern Illinois	25–5	17–1	1st	NCAA First Round
Southern Illinois:		25–5	17–1
Purdue (Big Ten Conference) (2005–present)
2005–2006	Purdue	9–19	3–13	11th
2006–2007	Purdue	22–12	9–7	T–4th	NCAA Second Round
2007–2008	Purdue	25–9	15–3	2nd	NCAA Second Round
2008-2009	Purdue(13)	17-5	6-3	2nd
Purdue:		73–45	33–26
Total:		81–45
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• Matt Painter bio at Collegesports.com
• Article on Matt Painter