Players-Turned-Coaches Stefanovic, Thompson Provide Young Voices For Purdue
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Matt Painter is 54 years old, and he knows communicating well with teenagers isn't always easy. So the Purdue coach is glad he gets plenty of help right on his own coaching staff.
Former Purdue players Sasha Stefanovic and P.J. Thompson are part of Painter's staff now. And it's just a simple fact that modern-day players might relate better to them than to Painter.
"As you get older, the youth of America doesn't listen as well,'' Painter said with a smile during his press conference Wednesday at the NCAA Tournament in Providence, R.I. "Yeah, P.J. and Sasha's voices are important. them being able to pass on their experiences and share things with them, good and bad, I think resonates with them. I think you have to have that in a program.
"You have to have youth, but they also have to have wisdom, and I think that's what they have. I think that's what P.J. and Sasha have. They're mature and help our players with how to approach and handle things, especially adversity.
Stefanovic, a 26-year-old Crown Point, Ind, native, played for Painter from 2017 to 2022 and has been on his staff since 2023 after spending one year overseas playing professionally. Thompson, an Indianapolis native, played at Purdue from 2015 to 2018, and now helps run Purdue's offense.
Purdue has been a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament in each of the past eight seasons. Thompson and Stefanovic saw the best and worst of things as both players and coaches. There have been some tough early flameouts to lower seeds, but there's also been an Elite 8 run in 2019 and a Final Four visit a year ago — Purdue's first in 44 years — that ended with a loss in the national championship game to Connecticut.
This 2025 Purdue team is built around experienced juniors Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn, and that trio — along with senior Caleb Furst — has seen a lot, too. They pass along all they can to Purdue's younger players as well.
"I just think any time you have a certain experience, it helps you,'' said Kaufman-Renn, who has played in seven NCAA Tournament games. "Just the fact that we've been here before, we've done it, we've had success and we've had failures. We know what it takes.''
Smith, a first-team All-American point guard, concurs.
"We understand how to handle it and just to help these younger guys out,'' Smith said. "And I think that's our biggest thing, Just going through all the situations, and we have an older group. These guys up here, we have all been through those situations together.
"It's not just me understanding how to handle certain situations there. They understand it, as well, because they experience it and we have a great head coach that's been through everything, as well. So he also understands that and can help us. I think just having that great supporting cast and people around us and our experience in the three years we have been here, I think it's just our job as the older guys and the people that have had that experience to help the younger guys out,''
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Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who's worked at some America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star. He also owns the book publishing company, Hilltop30 Publishing Group, and he has written four books and published 16 others.