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Jeff Goodman of Stadium announced this morning what many of us were waiting for when he tweeted that Paul Lusk is returning to the Boilermaker Men’s Basketball team.
Creighton assistant Paul Lusk is returning to become an assistant for Matt Painter at Purdue, source told @Stadium. Lusk was an assistant at Purdue prior to becoming head coach at Missouri State from 2011-18.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 9, 2021
Lusk was with the Boilermakers as an assistant coach from 2004-2011 which you may recall as the Baby Boilers era. This is the time that Painter was settling into his groove and really rebuilding the program. Lusk left following the 2011 season in order to be the head coach at Missouri State. He amassed a 106-121 record while there and was let go in 2018. Afterward he headed to Creighton where he has been an assistant coach ever since.
On a personal note I was at Purdue when Lusk was there and as a member of the Paint Crew executive board at the time I just have to say that he was one of the nicest people I encountered in my time in athletics. He was always ready to help out the Paint Crew, didn’t mind having a quick chat, and would stop by the Paint Crew line on occasion just to see how things were going. Lusk and Painter are apparently close personal friends so this hire was a no brainer and I mentioned him as an obvious candidate in my post earlier this week.
Lusk brings with him a wealth of experience and a great defensive mind. Don’t just take my word for it though. Look who is excited about this hire on Twitter.
Let’s go!!!! Great great dude!!
— Chris Kramer (@C_K_3) April 9, 2021
getting the band back together!
— Mark Wohlford (@Wohlfpack) April 9, 2021
Chris Kramer and Mark Wohlford both played under Lusk at Purdue and are just the first two reactions I’ve seen from former players. Kramer is of course one of the best defenders to ever put on the Purdue jersey so his endorsement means a lot in the Purdue community. Wohlford was a walk-on at Purdue who, as you would expect, worked his ass off and found a way to the floor. Wohlford is currently an employment lawyer.
The reactions to this hire will be nearly 100% positive as I’ve not heard a bad word about Paul Lusk. Given that the open positions are offensive and defensive coordinators it would seem obvious that Lusk will slide into the defensive coordinator role given that this is his specialty. This would place him in the role previously held by the departing Coach Lutz and leave Painter with the spot vacated by Coach Shrewsberry.
Congratulations and welcome back to Coach Lusk!