Gene Keady stroke update: Matt Painter provides positive outlook on Purdue coaching legend

At Big Ten Media Days in Rosemont, Illinois, Thursday, Purdue head coach Matt Painter shared an update on the status of program legend Gene Keady, who suffered a minor stroke last month.

“He’s great,” Painter said, via Big Ten Network. “He just had a little bit, like a mini stroke, and he popped right out of it and wanted to know who’s winning the USC-Michigan football game. And he got the team’s right. But no, he’s great. He’s going to try to get to our practice next week.”

After Keady’s stroke, he was taken to the hospital for evaluation and then transferred to a rehab facility. The Purdue men’s basketball X account noted the expectation for Keady to make a full recovery.

Keady, 88, is Purdue’s all-time winningest coach. While Purdue plays in Mackey Arena, its court is named after Keady — it has been since December 1997. He led the program from 1980-2005 and posted a record of 512-270 in that span. Along the way, he won seven Big Ten and six National Coach of the Year awards. He also guided the Boilermakers to six regular season conference championships.

Plus, he took them to 17 NCAA Tournaments, including to the Elite Eight twice. Keady was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.

He hired Painter as his associate head coach ahead of the 2004-05 season. When Keady retired, Painter took over, and he’s still running the show now. Purdue finished as national runner-up last season after reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1980.