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The coaching staff Matt Painter, head coach: In his ninth year as Purdue's head coach, Matt Painter will look to re-establish the Boilermakers as one of the Big Ten's winningest programs, a perch he returned the program to after succeeding his former college coach, Gene Keady. Purdue's 16-18 mark last year snapped Purdue's run of six consecutive seasons in which it won 22 or more games and played in the NCAA Tournament. After coming back to Purdue as Keady's pre-determined successor after one season as the head coach at Southern Illinois, Painter's posted a 176-95 record, 84-56 in Big Ten games, as the Boilermakers' head coach. He's led Purdue to one Big Ten regular-season title, a conference tournament crown and a pair of Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament berths. The 43-year-old's contract runs through the 2018-19 season. Jack Owens, associate head coach: Entering his sixth season at Purdue, Owens begins his third as associate head coach. Owens works mostly with Purdue's guards. The Indianapolis native came to the Boilermakers from Southern Illinois, hired there by Painter in 2003 prior to the school's 25-5 '03-04 season. During Owens' five seasons with the Salukis, SIU played in three NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 appearance, and won a Missouri Valley Conference title. Since coming to Purdue, the former Indiana All-Star from Washington High School in Indy has been an integral part of the Boilermakers winning 120 games the past five seasons and reaching the NCAA Tournament his first four seasons with the program. Additionally, Owens has been pivotal in the program's recruiting success, as the lead recruiter on each of the program's current sophomores and freshmen. Owens, 36, graduated from Eastern Illinois in 1999. Painter, then an assistant coach for the Panthers, recruited him there. Greg Gary, assistant coach: In his third season at Purdue, Gary's focus will shift toward working with the 12 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 2 program's guards, after he's coached its post players the past few seasons. Hired after his second stint coaching at Duquesne, the 42-year-old brings Division I head coaching experience, a diverse coaching résumé and deep Indiana ties to the Boilermaker bench. In 2008-09 and 2009-2010, Gary was the head coach at Centenary, but left that D-I job when the school decided to drop to Division III status. Prior, Gary served as an assistant coach at Tulane, South Florida, Miami (Fla.) and McNeese State. He graduated from Tulane in 1992, leaving the Green Wave program as its all-time leader in assists with 370. Gary graduated from Anderson Highland High School in 1988. In high school, he played against Painter when Highland faced Muncie's Delta H.S. Brandon Brantley, assistant coach: This summer, Painter brought the former Boilermaker back to his alma mater to coach its big men. After a decade-plus spent playing professionally, both overseas and in the U.S., followed by stints coaching on the high school and summer circuits around Indianapolis, Brantley's taking on his first college coaching position. Brantley graduated from Purdue in 1997 after helping Keady's teams to 98 wins and three Big Ten championships in his four seasons in West Lafayette. The 40-year-old East Chicago native is a graduate of Andrean High School. Elliot Bloom, supervisor of basketball operations: Now in his sixth season as Purdue's operations director, the 36-yearold Bloom coordinates scheduling, travel, recruiting arrangements, players' academic responsibilities and countless other aspects of the program. Prior to joining Painter's staff, the 1999 Purdue graduate was the program's sports information director from 2001-08. Before that, he spent seasons in the sports information offices at Duke and Kansas. f