Matt Painter, the Purdue basketball coach, might take the Missouri job. I can't believe it, first Purdue has to be a better job than Missouri. Stu has posted their history and while Knight gets all the pub because he did win 3 NC's, during his run at IU Purdue more than held their own against him, and I think actually had a winning record against him. I believe Purdue has won more B10 championships as well. Then there is the fact that Painter is a former player at Purdue, and was groomed for this job. Maybe Stu can shed some light here as to what has happened? His mentor Gene Keady said Purdue has to show him a commitment. What does that mean? Is Painter going to the brink here to make a point with the Purdue AD? Or will he really take the job. Painter to Missouri?
Rumors and discussion have been rampant on the Purdue lists and boards all weekend. It's kind of complicated. Gene Keady and Morgan Burke (AD) have been rumored to have a bit of a rocky relationship at times. Matt Painter is one of the lowest paid coaches in the B1G. But it isn't just about salary...it also involves support for assistant coaches salaries, facilities, etc. Purdue is renovating Mackey arena, but it involves training facilities, ticket offices, athletic department offices, and actually includes a DECREASE in seating, something that many are not happy about. Purdue's athletic department is self-supporting and certainly does not have the bucks that many other top drawer programs have. There are implications going around that Keady and Painter have not always felt as supported as they would have liked to be. The athletic department denies this and vows it's full support of the program, and they sent a letter out today to John Purdue Club members informing them that the athletic department and university have made a proactive (?) contact with Matt Painter pledging their desire to retain him (and presumably a $ offer). I do not think that Painter is the type of guy who would blatantly hold the university hostage by showing faux interest in another program, so he must be serious in meeting with them. Rumor also was that if Painter went to Mizzou, Zo Martin would be there to come to Purdue...they share the same agent and talk frequently, so the thinking was that Zo knew Painter wasn't likely to go anywhere, so he accepted the Tennessee job without hesitiation. But maybe they both are going to go to more lucrative contracts than they could get at Purdue and the heck with us. I don't know...it's kind of disconcerting and we won't really know anything until Matt Painter comes out and says something. Comments coming out of Missouri seem to indicate that they are pretty confident that they can land him.
While I have no idea of the money that Missouri Athletic Dept has to toss around, it's hard to imagine that they are richer than Purdue. The money they get from the B12 is less by a lot than what Purdue gets from the B1G. I don't know about Missouri practice facilities vs Purdue. I know Purdue spent some bucks on the golf facilities though. If Tenn wasn't facing uncertain sanctions for basketball, I could see Tenn having more money and better facilities for basketball and a logical place for Painter to use to leverage the AD at Purdue with.
Well, Matt came back to Purdue without a real long resume...just a great job as an asst. coach to Keady and Weber and one year at SW Missouri...he is now obviously a much more established commodity and deserves to be paid accordingly. He's been paid $1.3 million and Missouri is reportedly offering $2.3 or so. I don't pretend to be an expert on Athletic Department finances, or what separates the haves from the have nots. I read a statement from Nancy Cross of the athletic department that implied that because donations for the Mackey project were not as high as hoped for (by alums) that Purdue had to dig in to TV monies, etc. to fund it. I have several friends who are lower level JPC Club members, and have been so for 20 years, and are losing their lower level season seats due to the reseating designs of the remodeled Mackey. They have decided not to donate to a project that cost them their seats, and now is going to require them to purchase a seating license even for a less desirable seat. The golf course was done pretty much with private fundraising and I think maybe Pete Dye donated his services. Again, until Painter says something, I'm hopeful that he will stay.
Well it never happened that way when Painter or Keady went up against ND coaches for a recruit. The whole topic of conversation currently going on over on ND boards is how the ND adiminstration is so cheap with regards to the basketball program. Claim is that they give it just enough support to maintain a winning program but not enough to allow us to step up into the top level of college basketball. I still have to wonder where Missouri is getting all the money.
Stu, for the record, I hope he stays put....but it sounds like there is alot of bad blood boiling and could be to the point of beyond salvation? What do you think?
Stu if Painter leaves is there any feeling that Stevens at Butler might be interested in the job. He would certainly know the midwest and have a reputation that would give him in with the top talent in Indiana. But it would seem silly to not pay Painter then go out and pay bucks for Stevens.
I don't think that it is a matter of pay...Painter got $1.9 million after incentives this year (base was $1.3 million)...they could easily boost him up to where Missouri would likely put him. If there was bad blood he has certainly kept it to himself...but he is that kind of guy. We shall see...
Sorry about posting all this stuff...this has been going on all weekend and I really wasn't going to address it here until someone else brought it up...it took a little longer than I thought it would. :lol: Anyhow these articles seem to explain the speculation and frustrations at Purdue better than I can.
http://deadspin.com/#!5786836 Purdue blames cheap donors. Doesn't work as a link...cut and paste the whole thing including the numbers.
I have more than a passing interest in this situation. One of the coaching staff is a friend of my son Mike. Michael Jackson and Mike played together on the U of D High basketball team. Jackson has a successful career playing at University of Detroit Mercy and then has been on the staff of Toledo, Dayton and U of M. He was a real nice guy. Hope if Painter goes he takes Mike with him.
Please Say It Is So I've been reading stuff all day (mostly out of Kansas and St. Louis) that Painter has agreed to sign with Missouri...maybe not...