“If you’re going to San Francisco,
Be sure to wear some flowers in your … comb-over?”

Tuesday of last week, the University of San Francisco was granted permission to talk with Purdue’s Gene Keady about the school’s coaching vacancy. Keady, the dean of coaches in the Big Ten, has one year remaining on his current contract with the Boilermakers, but Purdue has said they will not stand in the way of the winningest coach in their history if he does in fact decide to leave.

Keady told ESPN Thursday that he has made no decision on his future and, when he does, there will be “a statement or memo.” Monday, USF formally offered Keady the job.

One must admit, thinking of Gene Keady stomping down the sidelines at a school other than Purdue is kind of depressing. Can anyone honestly see that tastefully incongruous part in Keady’s hair existing anywhere outside West Lafayette? In his 24 years with Purdue, the demonstrative coach has recorded 505 wins, six Big Ten titles and another six National Coach of the Year awards. Excuse me if I feel a little disheartened if Keady shafts the Boilermakers to become a Don.

This news should be just as disheartening to fans of Big Ten hoops. Respect or despise the man, Keady embodies the spirit of hard-nosed Big Ten basketball. Losing him (to the West Coast Conference, of all places) would be a major blow.

Coaches like Keady are the figureheads of college basketball. They are the mainstays in the game and help define the sport and its conferences.

The Big Ten was left with a major void of personality after Bob Knight was canned four years ago. Bill Self jumped ship for Kansas last year and led the Jayhawks to the brink of the Final Four.

If Keady makes his way to Haight-Ashbury Street, the Big Ten will lose not just another great coach, but a magnificent teacher and transcendent personality. And with the Big Ten’s recent woes, the conference simply cannot afford to lose him.

One can’t fault the man, however, if the reason for his sudden displeasure with Purdue flames from the team’s late-season meltdown. Keady’s squad finished 17-14 in 2003-04, but went just a 2-8 over its final ten games, including a loss to in-state rival Notre Dame in the first round of the NIT. If the Boilermakers could have managed a .500 finish down the stretch of the Big Ten season, they probably would have found themselves in the Big Dance.

Despite the poor finish, Keady had to endure late-season legal problems to senior center Ivan Kartelo, as well as a shoulder injury to stud-guard Kenneth Lowe, from which he never recovered. In a first-round loss to the Gophers in the Big Ten tourney, the Boilermakers looked as if they just didn’t want to be there, something not normally seen from one of Keady’s teams. With five graduating seniors, Keady would be entering what would be considered a rebuilding period, something for which the 67-year-old might not have the time or patience or see-through.

But USF is by no means a comparable program to Purdue. There is prestige in West Lafayette. There’s Rick Mount, Joe Berry Carroll and Glenn Robinson. The Dons had Bill Russell and two national championships, but that was almost 50 years ago. Rebuilding would be the name of the game if Keady decided to move to the City by the Bay.

On the other hand, Keady might just be using his discussions with USF as a bargaining chip to renegotiate the remainder of his contract. Despite all he’s meant to Purdue, it’d be hard for the university to rationalize giving an expensive, long-term deal to a man who is most likely in the twilight of his career.

Which makes this whole situation even more bewildering. Keady is up for election into the National Basketball Hall of Fame this year, and rightfully so — his credentials warrant enshrinement. When Keady takes the stage for his acceptance speech, it would be criminal if he were not wearing a Boilermaker pin on the lapel of his suit-jacket. This should be reason enough for the man to see his contract to completion, or for the university to put a little extra icing on Keady’s cupcake.

There’s something very proud in a man showing a lifetime’s commitment to one institution. If Keady and Purdue go their separate ways, part of that prestige would be dampened.

And Keady is still sharp as a tack. He’s a fine coach with more than enough resolve to bring a squad that might be picked at the bottom half of the Big Ten to the head of the pack.

Not possible, you say? Keady’s done it before. Several times, and he could do it again.

In truth, though, it seems a Big Ten title means no more than a five or six seed come March. UW’s Bo Ryan has raised hell over this issue over the last week, exclaiming the indignity in discounting the Big Ten despite its being ranked as the sixth-best conference in the country this season by collegerpi.com.

Keady, however, knew this way back in October.

“What do Big Ten titles mean? Nothing,” Keady said sarcastically. “I’ve won six of them, and nobody thinks I can coach.”

Keady’s no Joe Paterno. He knows basketball. He’s not out of touch with the game and its players. He’s as knowledgeable as they come. His future with Purdue simply comes down to whether the man wants to spend his final years rebuilding the program in a conference that doesn’t get more than three teams into the tournament. If he doesn’t, it might be in the best interest of the university to let him go.

George Harrison said, “all things must pass,” but excuse me if I feel a little saddened if another Big Ten dinosaur becomes extinct.