Former Purdue coach Gene Keady excited about return for Alumni Game
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
Legendary former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady will return to the sideline at Mackey Arena on Saturday for the Alumni Game. He will coach against his protege, Matt Painter, at 2 p.m.
Keady, the winningest coach in Purdue history, led the Boilermakers to six Big Ten championships, including three straight from 1994-96. Purdue advanced to postseason play in 22 of his 25 seasons, including 17 NCAA Tournament trips.
Keady graduated nearly 90 percent of his players and Boilermakers were selected Academic All-Big Ten 41 times, including seven Academic All-America selections, during his tenure. He was Big Ten Coach of the Year a record seven times and the nation’s top coach eight times in six different seasons.
On Dec. 12, 1997, the Mackey Arena playing floor was renamed Keady Court to honor the Boilermaker coaching legend. His signature was added to the court in 2011 as part of a makeover of the playing surface.
I spoke with the 76-year-old Keady by telephone on Wednesday afternoon. He talked about his return to Mackey, his recent marriage, his current job as an assistant at St. John’s and the state of AAU basketball, among other things, during the 12-minute conversation.
Q: What do you think about the chance to be on the sideline at Mackey again?
A: It ought to be fun. It ought to be great to see all the ex-players and see some of the coaches I haven’t seen in a while. It’s going to be very exciting.
Q: What about the job Painter has done since you left?
A: I think he’s been tremendous. We couldn’t have picked a better guy. He did a great job recruiting, and he’s pretty much proven he can coach. He’s one of those guys that I’m very proud of.
Q: You’re still an assistant coach at St. John’s. What’s it been like working with coach Steve Lavin, who used to work under you?
A: It’s been tremendous. I really respect him a lot. He’s like a son. We’ve had a lot of fun together. We’re going to be pretty good this year. He’s recruited two years back-to-back with really quality players, so we’re going to have depth, some quickness and pretty good shooters. I think we’re going to be pretty good.
Q: What about the new look at Mackey?
A: Well, I helped them raise the money for that. I did it as a part-time job while I was working for the Big Ten Network. I think it’s a great addition. It helps recruiting, helps it be more up to date with the other schools, because really, Purdue was the last school to get any new facilities for basketball. So I really like what they’ve done. It’s been tremendous.
Q: You married your girlfriend, Kathleen Petrie, June 5 in Hawaii. Can you tell us about her?
A: She’s a Boston girl, Irish. She’d bought a couple taverns in Boston and sold them because she wanted to be closer to her daughter in New York City. I happened to be in a place she was in one night, and we met and things took off and we’ve had a date every day since.
Q: Did it all take you by surprise?
Yes, because I was not looking to do anything like that. She kind of came out of heaven. I think the main reason she was attracted to me is because she never saw me coach and how I threw fits. That helped me because she didn’t know me.
Q: Will we see any of that old fire on Saturday?
A: I never planned any of that, it was always done with instinct, so I don’t know. You never know what’s going to happen. I don’t plan on it, but it might.
Q: What do you think of Carl Landry’s development as a player? He was one of the last players you recruited and he’s done perhaps better than expected in the NBA.
A: Well, it didn’t surprise me because I knew he had very good talent. He needed to work on his shooting game, so he got that corrected a little bit. He scores, he’s a good inside player. I think he surprises some of the guys the way he can score inside because he’s not that overpowering a body build. He’s got a good body, but not overpowering. So he’s really developed his skills so he could be successful. That’s what happens when you work on fundamentals, and he’s done that.
Q: What will Purdue have to do to maintain its success level now that JaJuan Johnson, Robbie Hummel and E’Twaun Moore are all gone?
A: Well, I think as long as they’ve got Matt Painter, they’re going to play smart, they’re going to play good defense and they’re going to get shots. When you’ve got that kind of philosophy, you’re going to win. And as long as he’s there, they’ve got a chance to win.
Q: Do you ever think you’ll be a head coach again, or do you think you’re done with it?
A: I wouldn’t say I’m done with it, no. If the right opportunity would come along, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Q: What’s the biggest difference between coaching today and when you started at Purdue in the early 1980s?
A: Parents and AAU.”
Q: How so?
A: The parents now as a group – not all of them, because a lot of them do a great job of raising their children – but they don’t make them listen, they don’t make them think for themselves, they don’t teach responsibility.
With AAU, they just completely spoil the players. The greatest thing about AAU ball is it gets the kids off the streets and gives them something to do. As far as teaching fundamentals and doing things right, I’d like to see more achievement there.
They don’t play it right a lot of times, they’re not taught fundamentals and – I’m not saying they’re all like that, I’m saying the majority.
Q: What about the differences in recruiting?
A: It used to be that you recruited the high school coach and the parents, and that made it pretty good because you knew exactly where you stood. Now, you have to recruit the high school coach, the AAU coach, the shoe company, the posse maybe if he’s good enough to be an NBA player. There’s so many people that you have to be in touch with that it kind of makes it hard to concentrate on getting the kid.
Q: How long do you plan to keep coaching?
A: As long as they’ll keep me. I don’t have a mindset there. My wife might have something to say about that.
Q: What does it mean to you to still have such close ties with Purdue after all these years?
A: “A lot of people don’t have what we have. We have a family. The basketball program and the football program under Joe (Tiller) is like family. We all stay in touch with each other. I know where all my ex-players are, pretty much. It’s going to be fun to see them all this weekend. And a lot of schools don’t have that togetherness. But that comes from being there for a while, and they know that I thought their future was really important to me. And they knew that if I could, I was going to help them get a job or help them get on the right track for a job.
