Before Matt Painter took over for Purdue basketball, it was Gene Keady that paved the way for the Boilermakers' success. His greatness netted him six national Coach of the Year awards and seven Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. He has produced countless NBA-level talents and even dabbled to coach the 2000 Team USA men's basketball team. It is just fitting that he joins greats like Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, and Gregg Popovich among others in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Purdue basketball legend knows his way around basketball and formed insanely good schematics with them. His prowess got him 550 career wins in his 25-season stint with the Big Ten Conference powerhouse team. Although, it seems that he could not believe that his amazing talents would give him a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nod. Gene Keady revealed how much of an honor it was to be selected along with Gregg Popovich, via Sam King of the Lafayette Journal & Courier.

“I didn't expect it, so that makes it very special. I had a lot of good help. You never do it by yourself,” he said about the imprints forged from his greatness at West Lafayette.

A lot of praise has also been hurled at him. His successor, Matt Painter, was one of the great people to drop a huge compliment, “You want to take all those things that he instilled in this program, but also run and do different things because your personnel changes and time changes. The game is different than it was when I took over.”

What a well-decorated career it has been for Purdue basketball legend Gene Keady.