Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
As I’m sure you know, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle joins me and Kevin Bowen on The Wake Up Call every Tuesday at 8am. Among the topics we discussed this morning included Tyrese Haliburton’s ongoing minutes restriction, what he’ll do around the All-Star break, and the play of Aaron Nesmith. But Carlisle always provides a little unprompted content, and today that involved praising Purdue and their head coach Matt Painter.
Take a listen…
Pretty high praise from Carlisle on the Purdue team itself, but what caught my attention was the stuff about Painter’s future coaching Team USA.
Having spent time with Painter in Vegas for Team USA basketball, Carlisle said “Certainly, (Painter) gonna have a future on the staff of the Olympic team, I would have to guess”.
I don’t know about you but that would be quite the accomplishment for Painter and a neat thing for Purdue fans to brag about. Painter has worked extensively with Team USA basketball already at lower levels, including the following:
– 2009 assistant coach on the gold medal FIBA U19 World Championships
– 2011 and 2017 head coach for the World University Games
– Last 10 years has been on the committee for Team USA U18 and U19 national teams, including serving as chairperson for the last five years
– And just last year Painter was one of three coaches for the Team USA Select Team that competed in the FIBA Men’s World Cup
Currently, Steve Kerr is the head coach of the national team and assistants include Mark Few, Erik Spolestra, and Monty Williams. I’m interested to watch in the next four years how Painter could grow into one of those assistant coaches for the 2028 games, which are right here in the United States.
