Purdue Basketball Coach Matt Painter to Receive Legends of Coaching Award

Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter will receive the Legends of Coaching award as part of the John R. Wooden Award weekend in Los Angeles next spring.

Purdue Coach Matt Painter To Be Honored In April 2026

Painter, 55, will be honored on April 10 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, where the men’s and women’s Wooden Award winners will be announced.

He is the second Purdue coach honored, following Gene Keady in 2007. Painter attended the ceremony for both years in which Zach Edey won the award.

In 2004, Purdue hired Painter as the future replacement for Keady, who retired a year later. Painter was named the associate head coach for the 2004-05 season.

👏👏👏 Quite an honor for our coach.

Matt Painter named the 2026 @WoodenAward Legends of Coaching recipient.

Will be presented honor following the season at the @LAAC. pic.twitter.com/KAjb3ESWwv

— Purdue Men’s Basketball (@BoilerBall) October 14, 2025

Since taking over for Keady at the start of the 2005-06 campaign, Painter has guided the Boilermakers to five Big Ten regular-season titles and two league tournament championships.

Purdue has reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament six times in the past eight years. With Painter at the helm, Purdue teams also have two Elite Eight appearances, one Final Four outing, and one national title game appearance.

This season’s team is ranked No. 1 in the AP men’s preseason poll.

Painter Ranks Second On School’s All-Time Wins List

Wooden also graduated from Purdue, where he was a three-time All-American and helped the Boilermakers win the 1932 national championship. He later coached UCLA to a record 10 national titles.

Entering the 2025-26 season, Painter owns a 496-220 (.693) record in 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach, while attaining a 471-215 (.687) mark in 20 seasons at Purdue.

He’s won at least 25 games in 12 of his 21 seasons as a head coach.

In his 20 seasons with Purdue, Painter already ranks second on the school’s all-time wins list (471) behind Keady (512). He needs just 42 wins to become the school’s all-time winningest coach.

In addition to Purdue being the only school to be ranked No. 1 in three of the last four seasons, the eight-winningest classes in school history have come during the Painter era (2025, 2024, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2012, 2011, 2010).

The Wooden Award marks its 50th anniversary next spring. Other recent winners include Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Kentucky’s John Calipari, and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.