Matt Painter followed John Wooden’s Purdue basketball example as a Boilermaker player turned respected and successful coach.
The 50th Legends of Coaching Award which bears Wooden’s name will go to Painter, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday. He is the second Purdue coach honored, following Gene Keady in 2007. Painter attended the ceremony for both years in which Zach Edey won the award.
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Painter will be honored alongside the Wooden Award winners at the 50th Annual Wooden Award Weekend in April. Painter’s point guard, Braden Smith, is a candidate to be there for the award given to the nation’s top players.
Wooden won 10 national championships at UCLA, while Painter seeks his first with preseason No. 1 Purdue. He already is a five-time Big Ten coach of the year and has led the Boilermakers to five Big Ten regular-season championships and two tournament championships.
Other recent winners include Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Kentucky’s John Calipari and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue’s Matt Painter to receive John Wooden Legends in Coaching Award
