Matt Painter

2021 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENT

BA 1994, Sociology

Men's Basketball Head Coach, Purdue University 

One of America's top basketball coaches, Matt Painter enters his 17th year at Purdue. He owns a 355-164 record at Purdue and has led the Boilermakers to 12 NCAA Tournaments, five Sweet 16s, three Big Ten regular-season championships, a Big Ten Tournament title, an Elite Eight, and an international gold medal. He was voted by his peers as the NABC National Coach of the Year after leading a team that started with a 6-5 record to the 2019 Elite Eight. Purdue's six straight NCAA Tournament appearances are the seventh-longest active streak in America and Purdue is one of just three teams to have a top-five seed in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments. Off the court, his program has had 68 Academic All-Big Ten honorees in his 16 previous years at Purdue, and every player but one that has exhausted their eligibility at Purdue has graduated.