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8 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f MEET THE STAFF Matt Painter, head coach: In his 10th 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 suc- ceeding his former college coach, Gene Keady. From 2006-07 to 2011-12, Purdue had six consecutive seasons winning 22 or more games and playing 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 has posted a 191-112 record, 89-69 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 Tourna- ment berths. The 44-year-old's contract runs through the 2018-19 season. Jack Owens, associate head coach: Entering his seventh season at Purdue, Owens begins his fourth 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 Tour- naments, 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 151 games the past seven seasons and reaching the NCAA Tournament his first four seasons with the program. Additionally, Owens has been pivotal in the program's recruiting efforts. Owens, 37, graduated from Eastern Illinois in 1999. Painter, then an assistant coach for the Panthers, recruited him there. Greg Gary, assistant coach: In his fourth season at Purdue, Gary works primarily with the Boilermaker wing players. Hired after his second stint coaching at Duquesne, the 43-year-old brought Division I head coaching experi- ence, 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 Delta. Brandon Brantley, assistant coach: In his second season coaching back at his alma mater, Brantley will again work primarily with the program's post players. 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, the Purdue job was Brantley's first in college coaching. Brantley graduated from Purdue in 1997 after helping Keady's teams to 98 wins and three Big Ten champion- ships in his four seasons in West Lafayette. The 41-year-old East Chicago native is a graduate of Andrean High School. Elliot Bloom, director of basketball operations: Now in his seventh season as Purdue's oper- ations point person, the 37-year-old 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.