Gold and Black at 25: Keady says goodbye
As we celebrate our 25th year of publising Gold and Black Illustrated, we look back at memorable covers while reflecting what was going on at the time.
This one definitely belongs in the "where has time gone?" department.
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Today marks the 10-year anniversary of when Gene and Pat Keady took their final stroll around Mackey Arena, moments after Keady's team lost a 59-57 heartbreaker to Minnesota. Tom Campbell snapped this image after the game came down to a missed last-second shot by senior guard Brandon McKnight that could have forced overtime.
During Keady's 15-minute address to the soldout crowd, he stressed three principles that the Coach had stressed during his quarter century at Purdue: Be on time; go to class; and always do you best. That was Keady in a nutshell.
The 2004-05 season was a season to forget in terms of wins and losses as the Boilermakers finished just 7-21, but the cascade of tributes on nearly every road stop for Keady made it a memorable for the coach that roamed the sidelines for 25 years. The gifts he received from opponents ranged from Tuffy's Toasted Rolls from Miami (Ohio) to golf clubs (Bo Ryan at Wisconsin) to a deluxe Weber Grill from his former pupil Bruce Weber, who was then the coach at Illinois. I am not sure there was a rocking chair in the mix.
It was definitely a strange season for the Boilermakers. First, you had coach-in-waiting Matt Painter spending much of his time on the road recruiting, laying the foundation for eventually landing Robbie Hummel and Co., a couple of years later. Then you had a team that just really struggled to win the last six games for Keady.
Despite a 6-9 record at home in the final year, Keady was hard to beat in Mackey Arena over the years (294-75, .797). Interestingly, he never had an undefeated season at home, but did suffer just one home defeat in 10 of his 25 years in West Lafayette.
Here is the list of our past 25-year anniversary stories:
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