What If Matt Painter Had Gone to IU to Play For Bob Knight?

But had Painter’s teenage wish come true, there’s a possibility he would be pursuing Bob Knight’s victory record at Indiana University instead.

“I hated Purdue,” Painter recalled a few years ago on The Field of 68: After Dark podcast with former Boilermaker Robbie Hummel and Jeff Goodman.

“I grew up a die-hard Indiana fan. My whole family went to Indiana. My dad went in ’76 and ’81 to the Final Four. He took me in ’87 when they beat Syracuse (for Knight’s third national title).

“If Bob Knight would have offered me it would have been over. I would have sat down there at the end of the bench and kept fouls and timeouts during the game.”

Despite a close friendship with Pat Knight, his AAU teammate, as well as having Bob Knight’s eldest son Tim coaching the team, an Indiana offer was not forthcoming.

In Painter’s recruiting class, Bob Knight signed four guards: Greg Graham, Pat Graham, Todd Leary and Chris Reynolds. Perhaps if Painter had played alongside future All-American Eric Montross instead of Leary, that offer might have come as an incentive to lure the 7-footer away from his future destination, North Carolina.

“I wasn’t better than those guards,” said Painter, an Indiana All-Star at Delta High School.

Had Painter signed with Indiana, would he be coaching the Hoosiers today? The timing may not have been right for Painter, who didn’t become a head coach until 2003 at Southern Illinois. That was early in Mike Davis’ tenure after Indiana fired Bob Knight just before the 2000-01 season.

Davis resigned in 2006 after missing the NCAA tournament in two of his final three seasons. Lean years followed in Bloomington, with Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations drawing a three-year NCAA probation and his dismissal in 2008.

Instead of turning to an experienced head coach and former player in Dan Dakich, Indiana went with Tom Crean from Marquette. By 2012-13, Crean had Indiana back at No. 1 in the polls. But that team led by Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller and Yogi Ferrell was bounced in the Sweet 16. One year after winning the Big Ten regular season title, the Hoosiers finished 10^th in the league and Crean was fired following the 2016-17 season.

In another timeline, this would have been Painter’s moment to return to Indiana. Instead, Archie Miller was brought in from Dayton. In four seasons, the Hoosiers did not make the NCAA tournament and finished ninth and tied for 10^th twice under Miller.

Meanwhile, Painter was leading Purdue to a 30-win season in 2017-18 and a Big Ten title the following season. The Boilermakers were seconds away from reaching the Final Four in 2019.

While Mike Woodson was floundering as Miller’s replacement, Painter’s Purdue teams were going 29-8, 29-6, 34-5 and 24-12.

Painter’s coaching career was aided by two former Gene Keady assistants at Purdue, the late Tom Reiter at Washington & Jefferson College and Bruce Weber at Southern Illinois. Bob Knight likely would have helped Painter secure a good entry level job, but the Hoosiers fan base probably would not have welcomed Painter over IU legends like Steve Alford and Woodson.

Painter may have hated Purdue as a youth, but his first meeting with Keady made a lasting impression not only on Painter but his father too.

“When coach Keady started recruiting me, I was just floored at how nice he was,” Painter said. “The only thing I saw was him going crazy in games, like losing his mind.”

Here was Keady’s recruiting pitch:

“Let me tell you something. You like Indiana and you want to go to Indiana. I respect that. Bobby Knight wins. Bobby Knight graduates his players. Bobby Knight doesn’t cheat. I got a lot of respect for that.

“Now I want to kick his ass. You can come here and help us do that. He doesn’t want you. I want you. You come here and we’ll go down to Indiana and we’ll kick their ass.”

Painter was conflicted.

“I told my dad I don’t know if I want to go to Purdue but man, I want to play for Gene Keady,” Painter said. 

Painter’s father, Mike, agreed.

“My dad has two degrees from Indiana, and he just said — it was my first lesson in recruiting, and I’ve always used it in recruiting. He just said Purdue has good education, and . . . Purdue always wins more than they should, and they have a great head coach, and he’s got discipline. You’re going to play for someone who has discipline. You’re not going to do what you want to do. You’re going to do what’s best for you.”

Painter wanted to play in the Big Ten and his choices were Purdue, Minnesota and Michigan State.

“I really chose Purdue because of coach Keady,” Painter said. “Back then you didn’t stay in the summers all the time or at all. Everybody else gave me choices. You could do this in the summer, you could do this. Coach Keady didn’t give me any choices. He said you will go to summer school, or if you don’t, you’ll get a job. You need to learn to get up and wake up early in the morning and get to work.

“I was like the hell with that. You’re 17, 18 years old. I want to shoot jumpers and eat pizza and have a helluva time. So I walked out of there, and I told my dad, man, I don’t know about that. He said that’s the only person who told you the truth. You need him way more than he needs you. That was a good choice even though I stunk as a player.”

Painter exaggerates slightly. He was never a star, but he did start 50 games and averaged 8.6 points as a senior playing alongside Glenn Robinson in 1992-93.

Keady knew early that Painter was going to be a head coach someday, but even in 1989 there’s no way the Naismith Hall of Famer could have guessed that Painter would replace him at Purdue for the 2005-06 season.

“Ever since he was a player here, Matt has had one of the sharpest basketball minds I’ve ever been around,” Keady said the day it was announced Painter would be his replacement after one season as head coach-in-waiting.

“He eats it, sleeps it and wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about it. … I’m honored that someone from the program is returning to lead Purdue men’s basketball after next year.”

Next time: The recruiting class that defined the early Matt Painter era and how it could have been even more star-studded.

Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.