Tuesday has come and gone with no resolution to Matt Painter's flirtation - for lack of a more manly word - with the University of Missouri.
A long day of trying to separate fact from fiction has unearthed some certainties and some real reasons for optimism regarding Purdue's chances of retaining its 40-year-old men's basketball coach, who has remained in Florida with his family.
First, reports out of St. Louis of Missouri asking Painter for a decision by noon Wednesday are true, we have independently confirmed by way of points of origin (tired of saying 'sources') close to Purdue. The "deadline" makes perfect sense; if Missouri can't get the guy they've spent the past week, maybe more courting, they've got to get moving on Plan B. The 'job fair' portion of the Final Four will soon be underway.
As we speak - or as I write and you read - it's 11 p.m. local time Tuesday night. The 'deadline' is in 13 hours.
It's generally thought Painter would be the type to tell his players face to face if he were leaving.
Painter has not even been to the Columbia, Mo., campus during this would-be hiring process. At least as far as we know.
For as diligent a person as Purdue's basketball coach is, it's certainly something to think about, the prospect of him taking a job without personally measuring the height of Mizzou Arena's rims, making sure the office chairs don't squeak, looking at homes, or shaking the hand of the university's interim president.
It wouldn't be unprecedented for a coach to take a job sight unseen, though.
So at least there's now an apparent ending point to this.
It's been a grind at Purdue while Painter has been pursued by Missouri, which flew to Florida Tuesday to meet with him.
Neither players nor coaches have known much, all of them as eager to resolution as you.
As we reported this morning, Purdue came to its three-time Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year late Monday night with what it called a 'clear demonstration' of its commitment to Painter and his program, an offer that would include a salary exceeding $2 million annually - whether that's guaranteed money, we don't know - and almost certainly added resources such as more money for assistant coaches, a central theme in this drama. University sources indicate Painter communicated Tuesday evening with A.D. Morgan Burke and high-ranking university officials over terms of new compensation terms for assistant coaches.
Now, it's time for Painter to decide.
We have maybe presented a rosy picture here in this update, but make no mistake: This is not over. We have never said Painter was taking the Missouri job and right now, we're not saying he isn't.
We'll know more tomorrow.
Correction: Painter is not in West Lafayette. He's remained in Florida.
He spoke with Morgan Burke and France Cordova over the phone when discussing assistant coaches' compensation.
We lost something in translation somewhere along the way. That's my fault.This post was edited on 3/29 11:24 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
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This post was edited on 3/29 11:48 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 3/30 12:45 AM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 3/30 12:46 AM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
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