It's easy to think that success just happens. Particularly, when you're watching a sport that lacks all parity. Kentucky is good, even when it isn't, it will be again. Same for Kansas. Tom Izzo. Dan Hurley and UConn.

Purdue and Matt Painter.

But success isn't always destined, ask the people down in Bloomington, and a program that used to be the flagship in the state of Indiana and the Big Ten Conference.


Purdue stands in stark contrast as it prepares for its in-state rival Indiana to come to Mackey Arena on Friday night. Purdue is coming off back to back Big Ten Titles and a National Title game. The state and conference now run through West Lafayette.


Indiana, well, Indiana is in crisis mode once again, losers of 4 of the last 5, and if the season continues as it has, Indiana will be looking for another next head coach to turn things around.


It's easy to forget that not so long ago, Matt Painter was a coach that felt his own seat getting warm with March performances and faulty rosters throwing gasoline on a fire roaring in the shadows of a giant.


Gene Keady gets a lot of credit for Purdue's stability, for laying a foundation for an athletic department and program, but it was Painter who was able to build on the rigid structure that Keady left behind. Painter found virtue in flexibility, the kind of finesse you can have when you let ego stop driving your program and purpose.

Painter found a new way for a college basketball team to operate, one that took letting go in integral places, trusting in those around him, and maybe most of all, trusting in the people and players he surrounded himself with.


If you haven't been paying attention, it paid off.


And now, during rivalary week, while Indiana doesn't hold any media availability ahead of its trip to West Lafayette, Matt Painter is regaling us with the story, once again, of how Purdue became to be as it is.


The story, and Matt Painter's telling of it, is good enough that you don't need my words anymore. So here's a partial transcript of Matt Painter during his over 20 minutes of answering questions this afternoon:

"I think a lot of head coaches want to take it all on cause they’re supposed to take it all on. And I just kind of looked at it twelve years ago, like, why don’t we just do what’s best for Purdue? You’ve gotta be able to sit there and a lot of time they’re like ‘whats the assistant coach got the grease board for and they’re paying him five million dollars and he doesn’t have it.’

Well, what’s best for Purdue?

Let’s not get away from it. Let’s quit living in this world where our ego dictates things. Let’s drop our ego and do what’s best for our program, do what’s best for our team…

I don'g want people on my staff and they used to do it - we used to be all over the place. That’s what everybody does. They’re all over the place. So some guy gets the scout and he’s got the out of bounds plays. He’s got the other team's out of bounds plays. He’s got the sets. He’s got what we’re running. He’s got all these things. And a lot of people still do this where my guys just have an area nad we just leave it alone.

Doesn’t mean they can’t speak up in a meeting about something different that’s out of their area, but once the game starts - I don’t like cluttering. I don’t like the mind of a player being cluttered. It’s hard enough. So let’s do everything in our power to make it easier for our players…"

"I probably talk to Elliot [Bloom, Purdue Director of Basketball Adminstration and Operations] more than anybody.

He’s an unemotional person. He’s a good thinker. So I sit down next to him and he just talks like during the game. People are like he’s your dobo. Well, he’s sat here for twenty years and watched all these games. Lilke you can’t sit there as a normal fan and sit there and say that’s not gonna work. Or this isn’t gonna work. And he’s unemotional.

I don’t like the emotion of it.

So like, when I get emotional I forget who’s on offense and defense. I do have a piece to me that gets emotional, I just try like hell not to get there because I’m not a very smart person when I’m emotional. Most people are fools when they’re emotional.

Just a lot of soul searching. We lost back to back years and I’d preferred not to get fired. So I wanted to stay here. I think this is a cool place. I think this school is a cool place. I like the community. I like all the things. And I wanna win. I want to win for Purdue. Along those lines, I said hey man I gotta - before I can make my players better, I gotta be better.So I just switched up a lot of things."

"I was actually sitting on my chair watching NFL films and that’s how a lot of it started.

I said I’m gonna recruit a smarter player. I’m gonna recruit a more skilled player then I’m gonna change how we do things offensively.

In those NFL Films, you know how they reel off a play and Brett Favre yells 18 words. Well, how in the hell do you know what 18 words is? But like you need to know two of them, you need to know two of them, you need to know two of them. I’m Brett Favre so I got to know all of them. And at times he was a river boat gambler anyways so he just kinda rolled, too.

But that piece of it is what I wanted. I wanted to run a bunch of things offensively but not make it complicated. So i just went to a system where everything that we call - And all those guys know it, the opponents they all know everything we do. But it’s six words. They all have a definition."

"I started it with that then I said well if I’m getting that clarity offensively why can’t I get more a clarity defensively? Why can’t I get to that point? Why can’t I get it to where I coach my coaches and do a better job where you don’t have to yell and scream and go crazy. Where you can build relationships, you can communicate, you can talk and now everybody is on the same page.

But let’s recruit intelligent players so we can collaborate, too.

Like I collaborate with Fletcher Loyer all the time. If you watch me talk to him, if you watch me talk to Braden, Braden’s a little more emotional. So you have to gauge that a little bit. But he’s very intelligent and very competitive. But we collaborate a lot of stuff and kind of talk through things.

But you’re empowering them when you do that. You’re giving them ownership.

Now you can’t give fools ownership. You get some wiseass who is always running his mouth, who doesn’t know what’s going on.

First of all, you don’t want him. Second of all, you messed up when you took him. But he can’t get ownership. You’ve gotta be able to reign that in. So you’ve got to be careful how you do that.

But if you get hard working, good dudes, that care about Purdue basketball and just want to win and that’s it. Oh man, make em feel like King of the Jungle. Make em feel as good as you can because that’s only gonna lift them up and lift your team up.”

Purdue hosts in-state rival Indiana on Friday night. If you're a Purdue fan, you should probably tune in.