Former Purdue Coach Gene Keady Selected to Naismith Hall of Fame

Former Purdue coach Gene Keady was selected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. Here is the full release from the school.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Former Purdue coach Gene Keady was selected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. Here is the full release from the school. 

Keady Gets the Call for Enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

HOUSTON, Texas – Former Purdue head coach Gene Keady finally got the call he’s waited years for.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced that Gene Keady will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, revealed today at the Final Four in Houston. Keady will be joined in the Class of 2023 by Pau Gasol, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Gene Bess, David Hixon, Gregg Popovich, Becky Hammon, Gary Blair, Jim Valvano and the 1976 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team.

Keady had been up for induction two previous times, but this was the first year he reached finalist status for enshrinement since 2006.

Keady, one of the most respected coaches in college basketball history, garnered 550 career NCAA wins and was named National Coach of the Year an amazing six times (1984, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000). He is the winningest coach in Purdue's history (512 victories), won six Big Ten titles (1984, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1996) and a record seven Big Ten Coach of the Year awards (1984, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000).

Under Keady's leadership, Purdue made 17 NCAA tournament appearances in 24 years. He was also inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, where he served as president from 2000-01.

Among the notable coaches that served under Keady's direction are Bruce Weber, Kevin Stallings, Steve Lavin, Cuonzo Martin and Matt Painter, the current Boilermaker head coach.

The 86-year Kansas resident played at Garden City Community College from 1955-56. An outstanding athlete, Keady was named a Junior College All-American on the football field as a record-setting quarterback. He would then head to Kansas State, where he lettered in three sports (football, baseball and track and field), before graduating in 1958 with a degree in biological sciences and physical education.

He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 19th round of the 1958 NFL Draft, but did not see any action in the NFL.

Following college, he would get his coaching start at Beloit High School in Beloit, Kansas, but it wasn’t in any sports he played in college. The only coaching position open was for the head coach of the boys’ basketball team. Wanting to get into coaching, Keady took the position and led Beloit for six years, amassing a record of 142-47. Knowing the value of education, Keady never stopped learning and earned his master’s degree from Kansas State in 1964, while serving as a teacher and coach at Beloit.

He then began his collegiate coaching career in 1965, at Hutchinson Junior College in Hutchinson, Kansas, starting as an assistant coach for the 1965-66 season. After just one season, he was promoted to head coach where he led the Blue Dragons to six Jayhawk Conference titles while being named the region’s junior college coach of the year three times (1971, 1972, 1973). He led Hutchinson to a 29-4 record and a runner-up finish in 1973, eventually ending his time at Hutchinson with a 187-48 record.

Following the 1974 season, Keady joined legendary coach Eddie Sutton at Arkansas, serving as an assistant coach with the Razorbacks for four seasons. During the 1977 season, the Razorbacks made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 19 years, then made the Final Four in 1978. During his time at Arkansas, Keady helped the Razorbacks to a 94-24 record.

Following the Final Four run with Arkansas in 1978, Keady received his first Division I head coaching job, accepting the Western Kentucky position. It took just two years for Western Kentucky to win the Ohio Valley Conference and reach the NCAA Tournament. He posted a 38-19 record in his two seasons at Western Kentucky.

On April 11, 1980, Keady was announced as head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers, beginning a 25-year run of success. He would reach 17 NCAA Tournaments, win six Big Ten regular-season conference titles, be named Big Ten Coach of the Year seven times, record victories in 512 games (third all-time in Big Ten history), win 265 league games (also third in Big Ten history) and be named National Coach of the Year six times. Keady won all of this despite producing just one All-American, Glenn Robinson, who is considered one of the top collegiate players in the last 40 years.

Keady was part of the 2000 Dream Team staff, serving as an assistant coach while also spending time at St. John’s under Steve Lavin (2010-15) and as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors (2006).

His all-time coaching record at every level as an assistant or head coach was 1,065 – 472 (.693).

He retired in April 2005, helping to hand-pick his successor in current head coach Matt Painter, who just completed his 18th year at Purdue and already ranks fifth on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list (413). Since 1980, Purdue has had just two head coaches, amassing a 925-468 overall record with 31 NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 Big Ten regular-season championships between them.

In addition, the Gene Keady coaching tree has many branches that is still spreading today. Ten former players or assistant coaches under Keady have all coached at the Division I level (Matt Painter, Bruce Weber, Kevin Stallings, Steve Lavin, Cuonzo Martin, Alan Major, Linc Darner, Paul Lusk, Austin Parkinson and Carson Cunningham).

This induction marks the sixth Hall of Fame that Keady will be enshrined in. He was inducted in the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 1990, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2007), the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. He was also honored with the Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball in 2004, the John Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2007 (just the ninth recipient of the award at the time) and the Joe Lapchick Character Award in 2010.

The Class of 2023 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Mass., the Birthplace of Basketball, on August 11-12. VIP packages to the 2023 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend are now available. Single-event tickets are on sale now.