Matt Painter Hires Brandon Brantley As Assistant Coach

Matt Painter reportedly wanted a coach with experience playing as and working with post players. Reports are coming out today - starting with GoldandBlack.com - that he found one in former Purdue center Brandon Brantley, who Painter played with when both were playing at Purdue in the early-mid 90s.

Brantley played center for Gene Keady and the Boilers from 1992-1996 - where he won three Big Ten titles - before heading overseas to play professionally. Since his playing days ended in 2007, he has coached high school ball as a JV coach at Ben Davis before more recently coaching AAU in Indianapolis for the Eric Gordon Under-16 team.

He also coached several NBA and Division 1 players in the Indy Pro-Am League from 2008-2012, including a one-game return this summer when he led the Purdue alum team to a victory over the IU alum team.

Brantley replaces Micah Shrewsberry, who came to Purdue for two seasons after being an assistant coach at Butler. When Brad Stevens was hired as the head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics and left Butler, Shrewsberry was one of the first hires he made for his bench.

Prior to targeting Brantley, Painter targeted Nebraska assistant Chris Harriman for the opening, despite Harriman reportedly making $40,000 more at than the $160,000 Shrewsberry  was at Purdue. There is no word on how much Purdue is paying Brantley, though it's likely nowhere near what it offered Harriman as Brantley will likely be the third assistant on a bench with Greg Gary and associate head coach Jack Owens.