After 24 years on the Purdue bench, head basketball coach Gene
Keady may be leaving the Boilermakers. The Purdue athletic
department has confirmed rumors that the school’s all-time
winningest coach has interviewed with the University of San
Francisco for their head coaching vacancy.
“The University of San Francisco sought and was granted
permission to talk with Gene Keady about the men’s basketball
coaching vacancy at that institution,” Purdue director of
intercollegiate athletics Morgan Burke said in a statement released
Thursday. “Coach Keady interviewed at San Francisco this week.”
Keady has one year remaining on his current contract, but the
Purdue administration will allow the man who has accumulated six
national coach of the year honors to leave if he chooses.
“The contact from San Francisco happened before Coach Keady and
I had a chance to talk in detail about the future, but we will not
stand in his way if he wants to pursue this opportunity,” Burke
said. “That said, Gene knows that we are committed to him through
the final year of his contract.”
The Boilermakers lose five seniors to graduation, and could be
facing a rebuilding period in years to come. Center Kevin Garrity,
forward Brett Buscher, center Ivan Kartelo, guard Austin Parkinson
and guard Kenneth Lowe, who averaged 13.3 points per game and
collected his second-straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
award, all ended their Purdue careers this season.
The Boilermakers finished the season with a 17-14 record, and
fell to Notre Dame 71-59 in the first round of the NIT. Purdue lost
four of its last five regular season games, and bowed out of the
Big Ten Tournament in the first round to the Minnesota Golden
Gophers, by the count of 63-52. The Boilermakers have made the NCAA
Tournament just once in the past four seasons.
The Dons are looking to replace Philip Mathews, who was fired
March 9. San Francisco finished the 2003-04 season with a 17-14
record, and placed fourth in the WCC with a 7-7 mark. They last
appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1998.
ESPN.com reported that former San Francisco player and Chicago
Bulls head coach Bill Cartwright, Arizona assistant Rodney Tention
and Connecticut assistant Clyde Vaughan are also candidates for the
opening.
Keady has taken Purdue to 17 NCAA Tournaments and has garnered a
conference record seven Big Ten Coach of the Year awards.
“When we know more, we will make that public,” Burke said.
–compiled from staff reports
