Todd’s Take: Go Bold! If I Led Indiana’s Coach Search, Matt Painter Gets First Dibs

The best person for the Indiana job is a Purdue icon, but imagine what a home run it would be?

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter talks with his players during a timeout during the second half against the Yale Bulldogs at Mackey Arena. / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With Indiana men’s basketball going through a coaching change, you’re going to read and hear about all manner of speculation on who will be named as the next coach.

Whispers here. Rumblings there. Hot boards! I’m at the age where I at least try to maintain some semblance of relevance to the modern age, but I cannot abide the term “hot board.” Sounds like what you're supposed to stay away from in case of a structure fire.

Anyhow, as you pour over the possibilities, one name you’re almost certainly not going to see on any hot boards is the coach who would absolutely make the most sense to hire at Indiana.

What if I told you there’s an in-state coach out there who has 490 career victories, won five Big Ten titles, advanced to the 2024 Final Four, and who has a steady flow of in-state standouts coming into his program?

What if I told you that this same coach runs a very sound system on both ends of the floor that successfully walks the line between modern analytics and older principles of maximizing players at what they’re good at regardless of whether it adheres to the strict tenets of analytics?

What if I told you this same coach has a great reputation of developing players from the time they enter school to the time they leave?

What if I also told you that this coach represents himself and his institution in a first-class manner? Loved by his fans, admired from afar, there has not been one hint of any nefarious doings during his 20 years at his current stop.

What if I also noted that this coach was born and raised in Indiana and grew up as a Hoosiers fan.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? An absolute home run of a hire, no? This person exists. His name is Matt Painter.

There’s one not-so-slightly inconvenient hitch. Painter coaches Indiana’s archrival Purdue. Has done so for 20 seasons. Painter also played at Purdue from 1989-93. In fact, apart from his formative years as an assistant coach and one year as head coach at Southern Illinois, Painter has been associated with Purdue for the vast majority of his adulthood.

Painter is as black-and-gold as they come. It’s unfathomable to imagine Purdue without Painter. He was the chosen one to succeed Gene Keady, and he’s been wildly successful in doing so. Purdue without Painter would be like Indiana without Nick’s. The student section is called the Paint Crew, for pete’s sake.

All of the above, in addition to a hefty buyout, are very prudent reasons why no one mentions Painter as a possible Indiana candidate. It’s easy to speculate about Bruce Pearl, Dusty May and others, but Painter? What? Are you crazy?

Evidently. If I were running the show, Painter would be the first person I’d call. Making a hire of this importance requires you to leave no stone unturned. To leave no possibility unexplored. To consider the unexpected.

All conventional wisdom must be set aside to find the best person for the job. In my mind, Painter is the best person for the Indiana job. So why on Earth wouldn’t you consider him?

I can imagine how this idea might go over among both cream-and-crimson and black-and-gold fans.

Indiana fans might immediately recoil at the thought of the Hoosiers having to raid Purdue to get the best coach in the state. That it’s somehow beyond the pale. Purdue fans will understandably tell me respectfully (or not) to keep Indiana’s dirty cream-and-crimson hands off their beloved head coach.

For Purdue fans, I really have no defense. You have the best guy for the Indiana job. Getting the right guy for the job requires a heightened sense of sorry, not sorry.

For Indiana fans? Consider that the Hoosiers’ wildly successful women’s basketball coach – Teri Moren – played at Purdue at the same time Painter did. I don’t think anyone who has watched Indiana women’s basketball rise to national prominence under Moren – with 241 career wins and counting in 11 seasons at Indiana – cares one iota that she was once a Boilermaker. So why should Painter be any different?

I’d make Painter say no. Highest paid coach in the Big Ten? Name your price. Pay what it takes for him to get out of his contract? Where do I send the eight-figure check? Access to on-demand NIL? Here’s the combination to the vault.

In addition to the myriad reasons Painter would not come, there are legitimate reasons he would. NIL riches might be one of them. Indiana’s popularity around the state is still higher than Purdue’s, even with the success that Painter has had.

Do I think Painter would seriously entertain an Indiana offer? I’m not naïve. Odds are stacked very heavily against it. It’s almost certainly a non-starter.

It’s just too audacious to be a realistic option, right? I don't know. Is Painter any more of a long shot than the popularly mentioned, but almost certainly never going to happen choice Brad Stevens?

Why limit your ambition? A wise man named Han Solo said to never tell him the odds. So undaunted, I would still make the call to Painter. Kick the tires. Why not? The worst thing that could happen is that Painter says no. Now, admittedly, that “make him say no” conversation may literally take a few seconds.

“Matt Painter, it’s Todd Golden. I’m in charge of hiring Indiana’s next basketball coach. Yeah, don’t ask how that happened, just roll with it. Hey, you’re the best coach in the country and you perfectly fit the profile of what we need to win big at Indiana. I want to gauge your interest in coming to Bloomington to lead our program. I’m willing to do what it takes financially and support-wise to make this a reality. Tell us what you need to make this happen. Are you interested?”

“No. Dude … I coach Purdue. What were you thinking?”

Oh well. At least you could sleep at night knowing you tried. And if by some miracle, “no” wasn’t the answer on the other side of the line? Imagine the possibilities.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• POSSIBLE COACHING CANDIDATES: Hoosiers On SI examines some possible choices for the Hoosiers. CLICK HERE.

• WOODSON EXIT: Indiana and Mike Woodson are working towards ending his four-year tenure as Indiana coach. CLICK HERE.

• DUSTY MAY CONTRACT: With his Indiana ties, Michigan coach Dusty May will be a name that will be brought up as a future Hoosiers coach. Here is how his contract is structured. CLICK HERE