After 24 years on the Purdue bench, head basketball coach Gene Keady may be leaving the Boilermakers. The Purdue athletic department has confirmed rumors that the school’s all-time winningest coach has interviewed with the University of San Francisco for their head coaching vacancy.

“The University of San Francisco sought and was granted permission to talk with Gene Keady about the men’s basketball coaching vacancy at that institution,” Purdue director of intercollegiate athletics Morgan Burke said in a statement released Thursday. “Coach Keady interviewed at San Francisco this week.”

Keady has one year remaining on his current contract, but the Purdue administration will allow the man who has accumulated six national coach of the year honors to leave if he chooses.

“The contact from San Francisco happened before Coach Keady and I had a chance to talk in detail about the future, but we will not stand in his way if he wants to pursue this opportunity,” Burke said. “That said, Gene knows that we are committed to him through the final year of his contract.”

The Boilermakers lose five seniors to graduation, and could be facing a rebuilding period in years to come. Center Kevin Garrity, forward Brett Buscher, center Ivan Kartelo, guard Austin Parkinson and guard Kenneth Lowe, who averaged 13.3 points per game and collected his second-straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award, all ended their Purdue careers this season.

The Boilermakers finished the season with a 17-14 record, and fell to Notre Dame 71-59 in the first round of the NIT. Purdue lost four of its last five regular season games, and bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament in the first round to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, by the count of 63-52. The Boilermakers have made the NCAA Tournament just once in the past four seasons.

The Dons are looking to replace Philip Mathews, who was fired March 9. San Francisco finished the 2003-04 season with a 17-14 record, and placed fourth in the WCC with a 7-7 mark. They last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1998.

ESPN.com reported that former San Francisco player and Chicago Bulls head coach Bill Cartwright, Arizona assistant Rodney Tention and Connecticut assistant Clyde Vaughan are also candidates for the opening.

Keady has taken Purdue to 17 NCAA Tournaments and has garnered a conference record seven Big Ten Coach of the Year awards.

“When we know more, we will make that public,” Burke said.

 

 

—compiled from staff reports