At Long Last Keady Gets Call From The Hall

Better late than never, right?

On Saturday word broke that legendary Purdue men’s basketball head coach Gene Keady got the word he would finally be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

When I heard the news, I was thrilled.

You see Coach Keady is as deserving as they come. To say this has been a long time coming is an understatement.

No, in his quarter of a century guiding the Boilermaker program he never got it to a Final Four, but boy did his teams compete and many exceeded expectations, resembling their fiery coach along the way.

You may not know this, but when Lee Rose stepped down from the Purdue head coaching position after leading the Boilermakers to the 1980 Final Four and the top spot was available in West Lafayette, Keady had some trying to discourage him from going from West Kentucky to the Big Ten.

Hall of Famer Al McGuire definitely was in Keady’s ear telling him no way no how to take the Purdue job. You see McGuire told his friend there’s no way he would succeed in the shadow of Bob Knight and his Indiana program.

Keady, however, never shied away from a challenge and took McGuire’s words and those of many others personally.

No one could’ve imagined the success Keady would enjoy in the two decades plus that followed.

True, he only had two teams advance to the Elite Eight.

In 1994, National Player-of-the-Year Glenn Robinson got Keady to within one win of the coveted Final Four.

In 2000, one of Keady’s all-time favorite players Brian Cardinal also delivered his coach to within an eyelash of the national semi-finals only to have Wisconsin spoil the party in the West Region.

Arguably Keady’s greatest Purdue team was the 1987-88 group that featured Todd Mitchell, Everette Stephens and 1984 Indiana co-Mr. Basketball Award winner Troy Lewis.

Prior to last season, the ’87-88 team achieved the program’s highest ranking ever – No. 2 in the nation.

Purdue was the No. 1 seed in the ’88 NCAA Tournament and had little trouble advancing to the Sweet 16. A trip to the Elite Eight looked like a shoe in as the Boilermakers had to beat Lon Krueger’s Kansas State Wildcats in the Pontiac (Mich.) Silverdome. Remember K-State was a team Purdue beat by nearly 30 points earlier in the season. But Mitch Richmond and Co. stunned the college basketball world on that March night, sending certainly one of the bet college basketball teams never to reach a Final Four home.

Although Keady’s teams fell short of advancing to the national semi-finals, his Boilermaker teams, almost always with lesser talent than the top dogs, usually reached their potential and exceeded expectations.

During those 25 years in West Lafayette, Keady’s Purdue teams were a thorn in rival’s IU side, too.

The Keady-Knight clashes were beyond memorable as their sideline antics almost trumped the actual games themselves and believe me there were some incredible contests through the years.

Believe it or not, when Knight was forced to leave Bloomington in 2000, he had a losing record against Keady. Keady was 21-20 against Knight, a record that pretty much anyone and everyone thought would be unimaginable when Keady started in 1980-81.

Although fierce competitors, Knight always respected Keady and vice versa.

Early on in Keady’s Purdue career, he made it clear that he would not back down to Knight, and no doubt Knight admired him for that. Since they both retired, Knight and Keady have remained friends and been in regular contact with one another.

Not only did Keady more than hold his own against Knight in head-to-head meetings, but his teams were consistently among the Big Ten’s best.

Keady’s Purdue teams won six Big Ten championships (1984, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2000).

Keady amassed 550 career NCAA wins and was named National Coach of the Year an incredible six times (1984, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000).

In 25 years at Purdue, Keady teams played in 17 NCAA Tournaments.

He is Purdue’s all-time winningest coach with 512 victories and Mackey Arena’s court is named after him.

Keady was named Big Ten Coach of the Year seven times after winning 265 Big Ten games (third all-time in league history).

On a personal note, I couldn’t be more thrilled with the news.

I was blessed to have covered 20 of Keady’s 24 teams at Purdue, was able to fly with the team all over the country, covering them in places like Anchorage, Alaska, and covered more NCAA Tournaments than I can count.

The access Keady allowed me and my staff when I was editor at Gold & Black Illustrated was unparalleled.

When he turned the program over to Matt Painter, I thanked Purdue’s all-time winningest coach for always treating us in a first-class manner and like part of the Purdue basketball family. In typical Keady fashion he said, “You survived some pretty good ass chewings in your day, but you’re more than welcome.”

No, he didn’t always agree with what I wrote and certainly let me know about it, but he would say his peace and move on.

A couple personal stories on Keady.

When I graduated from Purdue in December of 1991, the Boilermakers had a game in Mackey that day. After the commencement ceremony, I made sure I got over there and was fortunate enough to get a few pictures with the Purdue coach in my cap and gown. Needless to say, he was more than willing to pose for a few memorable shots.

A week or so later, I even invited him to my graduation party. He didn’t attend, but in typical Keady fashion he left me a message on our voice mail. It said, “Doug, Gene Keady, sorry I can’t make it to the party, but congratulations!” Classic to say the least, and yes, I still have the recording by the way.

You see, Gene Keady is a lot more than the intense competitor, who would pump his fist and toss his jacket regularly on the sideline. Peel back his tough exterior and that trademark scowl and he was one of the great ones the game has given us.

Congrats Coach! This honor is a long time coming and so very deserving!

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