Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 offseason

2. Matt Painter – Purdue

Three decades ago, Painter was a guard at Purdue under Gene Keady and now this program has been his for nearly two decades. After graduating, he was an assistant coach at a number of schools, including under Bruce Weber at Southern Illinois. He briefly succeeded Weber with the Salukis to begin his head coaching career, but left after just one season to become Keady’s successor, taking over a year later in 2005.

There aren’t many programs in the country with more success than Purdue has had since Painter took over the program 18 years ago. He’s led the Boilermakers to 14 NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite Eight in 2019 and a slew of Sweet Sixteens. This past year’s team won him a fourth Big Ten regular season title, and even after how the season ended it was still another extreme success for the Boilermakers, who have won nearly 68% of their games under Painter.

Purdue regularly finishes at or near the top of the Big Ten standings and has absolutely been one of the conference’s most consistent programs in recent memory. The biggest barrier left for Painter is leading the Boilermakers to the Final Four, something that hasn’t happened in more than forty years. Still, he’s won an impressive amount of games with a slew of talented players and has carved out his spot among the country’s finest coaches.