Painter: 'My Best Friends When I was 12 are Still my Best Friends Now'
MUNCIE, Ind. — Matt Painter has never been that "shine the spotlight on me'' guy. Not now, as the successful coach at Purdue, nor as a player at Purdue or even at Delta High School in Muncie, where he graduated as the school's all time leading scorer 30 years.
So Painter was a little humbled when the school retired his jersey number Saturday nigh in a ceremony attended by his parents, his own family and several former teammates, many of whom are still his best friends.
“That’s when it kind of hits you when you see it that it’s going to be up there forever," Painter said. "You know, I’d rather have a state championship up there rather than my jersey, but I’m very grateful that Grant Zgunda and all the people at Delta made that decision to retire my jersey. It means a lot."
Purdue coach Matt Painter watches his retired jersey number get retired at Delta High School in Muncie on Saturday night. (MANDATORY CREDIT: Jordan Kartholl/Muncie Star Press USA TODAY SPORTS)
“They didn’t have to do that. You put in a lot of time, and so many people have sacrificed for me so I could live my dream. It was special. I’ve always been a team guy who was about winning,” Painter said.
"We were 80-12 in my four years at Delta. It’s about your team winning. We won three (Delaware) county championships, we won a sectional. You score some points, but what’s it matter if you lose? To me, the joy of winning jumps out.”
Painter has always said he was "nothing special back then. He was just a scrawny 5-foot-10 kid when he arrived at Delta, a school known more for its wrestling state championships back then. But Painter grew nine inches in high school and became a big kid with point guard skills. He scored a lot, but was also a great passer and team player.
He had offers from Ball State and Evansville during his senior year, but opted to wait until after his senior season in case any Big Ten offers came. Painter admitted he was a huge fan of Bob Knight's Indiana teams growing up, but the only offer came from Purdue, the arch-rivals, and not Indiana. It was Gene Keady who wanted him, not Knight.
"When he started recruiting me, I kind of turned my nose to it,” Painter said. “But when I looked into it, I saw (Keady) was a great coach, (Purdue) has great education, they have great people. It just made sense and worked out.
“Even though Gene Keady and Bob Knight are two totally different people, Gene Keady had that same kind of discipline. He had the same thought process of guys going to class and doing what you needed to do. And I needed that. When I was 17, 18 years old, I was squirrely.”
Painter played at Purdue for four years from 1989 to 1993, and was a key piece on that 1993 team with Glenn Robinson and Counzo Martin. He was selected a team captain and averaged 8.8 points per game.
After a few other coaching stops, he became the head coach at Purdue in 2005. Since then, he's sent nine players to the pros and has won 353 games in West Lafayette. He's won Big Ten titles and a national Coach of the Year honor, but home will always be home, he said.
"My best friends when I was 12 are still my best friends now,'' Painter said Thursday after practice. "It was a different time. You went to school where you lived, and that was that, and you made the most of it. To me, you stay there because you wanted to hang out with your friends. That's who you grew up with.
"I ask people when they transfer, 'what about that friend you've hung out with for 10 years? You don't want to hang out with him?' Sometimes it gets lost in the grand scheme, and that kind of throws me off when people don't have that in our life. "For them to do this for me, it was awful nice of them.''
