Purdue's Matt Painter Hires Paul Lusk as Assistant Coach
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue coach Matt Painter announced Monday that Paul Lusk will join the Boilermakers as an assistant coach. Lusk will replace former assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry, who is now the head coach at Penn State.
The hire marks Lusk's second tenure with the Boilermakers. For seven years, he served as an assistant coach and an associate head coach between 2004 and 2011 under Gene Keady and thenPainter.
Head coach Matt Painter has announced that Creighton assistant Paul Lusk has joined the Boilermaker staff.
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) April 12, 2021
This is Lusk's second stint on Painter's coaching staff (2005-11). pic.twitter.com/7HKhNJTEni
In that span, Purdue appeared in five NCAA Tournaments — including two trips to the Sweet 16 — and won its first Big Ten tournament championship in 2009.
“We are excited to welcome Paul and his family back to Purdue,” Painter said. “He obviously has experience in our program and was very instrumental in our success during his previous stint. Paul is very detail-oriented and has excellent knowledge about the game both as a player and coach and will be a very beneficial addition to our staff.”
Lusk then spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton University, where the Bluejays compiled a 66-31 record during that time.
Last season, Creighton reached the Big East Tournament title game but lost to Georgetown University 73-48. The team also reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1974 only to fall short against the eventual National Champion runner-up Gonzaga University 83-65.
“I’m extremely excited to come back and work with Coach Painter. Purdue is a special place and I can’t wait to get started with this group,” Lusk said. “Purdue is a place of consistency and with consistency comes success. There have been two coaches here in the last 40 years and I have been fortunate enough to work with and learn from both of them.”
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.