'I Hated Purdue': How Gene Keady Recruited Matt Painter to West Lafayette

Those words turned Painter into a fan of Keady pretty quickly. Soon, the 6-foot-5 point guard would commit to Purdue as a member of the 1989 recruiting class, and the rest is history.

Not only did Painter enjoy success as a player, he's become one of the top coaches in college basketball. His commitment to Purdue turned out to be a decision that paid off for the next 35 years ... and beyond.

Painter's reluctance to commit to Purdue

Painter came from a family of Indiana University graduates and plenty of ties to the school. He attended the 1987 Final Four, when the Hoosiers won their fifth national title in program history.

So, playing for Knight would have been a dream come true for Painter. Even though Purdue was the school showing interest and not Indiana, his childhood fandom for the Hoosiers deterred his interest in the Boilermakers.

That's when Painter's father stepped in with some strong advice.

"We grew up loving Indiana, we grew up hating Purdue, too. It goes hand-in-hand," Painter said. "When I went to get recruited ... I told my dad, 'Man, I ain't going to Purdue. I hate Purdue.' Those were my exact words.

"My dad says, 'Alright, let me explain something to you — this is a business decision. You don't do what you want to do, you do what's best for you.'"

What was best for Painter was Keady's structure and discipline in West Lafayette. The iconic Purdue coach had some strict rules about how players would spend the summer months, preparing them for both basketball and a life after college athletics.

"(Coach Keady) told me I was going to stay in the summer, go home for a couple of weeks," Painter said. "He goes, 'You're going to go to summer school; if you don't go to summer school, you're going to get a job. You're going to wake up in the morning and go to school, wake up in the morning and go to work. Successful people wake up in the morning."

Painter wasn't enthusiastic about the pitch Keady had made to him. That's when his father stepped in again with a few more words of wisdom.

"So, I told my dad, 'I ain't feeling him,'" Painter said. "He says, 'That's the only dude who walked in here and told you the truth.' I was like, what? He goes, 'Hey man, I'm not going to pick it for you, but that man told you the truth.'"

Although he didn't like it at the time, Painter eventually saw Keady's vision and bought into the long-term plan at Purdue. Now, the structure and discipline that Keady provided, along with the wise words from Painter's father, permeate throughout the Boilermaker basketball program.

"I tell that to our guys all the time," Painter said. "It's not what you want, it's what's best for you."