2. Matt Painter (Purdue)
A Purdue guard back in the early 90’s, Painter didn’t take long to make his way back to West Lafayette. He spent a decade coaching at several smaller schools and even won 25 games in a lone season as head coach at Southern Illinois. Painter came back to Purdue as head coach-in-waiting and would succeed the great Gene Keady in 2005. He’s then spent the last two decades becoming one of the greats himself.
Painter has won five Big Ten titles and a boatload of games across these last 21 seasons. He brought incredible talent into the program and coached them to phenomenal heights, most notably taking that 2024 team all the way to the national title game. His Purdue program has made nine Sweet Sixteen’s and three Elite Eight’s, with significant success especially over the last half-decade.
Last year’s Elite Eight run only punctuated Painter’s success, as a senior-laden team left it all out there once again. He’s taken the Boilermakers to 11 straight NCAA Tournaments and constantly has them among the very best in the Big Ten. There aren’t too many coaches around the country you’d take over Painter right now to lead your program.
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