Next ‘Icons’ spotlights Purdue’s Gene Keady

Purdue’s legendary Gene Keady, who won 512 games in 25 seasons as the Boilermakers’ head basketball coach, is profiled Saturday in a new episode of Big Ten Icons, presented by Discover. Hosted by Hall of Fame broadcaster Keith Jackson, the show airs at approximately 9 p.m. ET, following the Purdue-Indiana men’s basketball game.

The show includes new one-on-one interviews with Keady; Purdue head coach Matt Painter; award-winning journalists Mike DeCourcy, Jack Ebling and Dan Wetzel; color commentator and former All-Big Ten guard Stephen Bardo, and others.

“Gene Keady got more out of less than almost any coach in the country,” said Ebling. “And invariably, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. The fist was stronger than the fingers.”

Keadylead Purdue to 17 NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of Elite Eight appearances and five trips to the Sweet 16. Under his direction, the Boilermakers won or shared six Big Ten Conference championships. The Larned, Kan., native was named National Coach of the Year six times, completing his Purdue career with the second-most coaching wins in Big Ten history.

“I wanted guys that wanted to go to school, get a degree, go into class and work hard at getting better,” Keady said. “That’s one of the things we always had a lot of pride in here, was players always seemed to get better in their career, here.”