Gene Keady

Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American basketball coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University for 25 years, from 1980 to 2005.
Personal life.
Keady was born in Larned, Kansas on May 21, 1936. He graduated from Larned High School. He had two children with his first wife. He married his second wife, Patricia, in 1981 and adopted her daughter. They were married until her death in 2009. He remarried in 2012 to Kathleen Petrie.
Playing career.
Kansas State.
Keady's father instilled in him a passion for sports. This became evident as Keady was a four-sport athlete at Garden City Junior College in Garden City, Kansas. At the junior college level, Keady was named an All-American in football for playing quarterback. Keady continued his education at a higher level at Kansas State University. At Kansas State, Keady was a letter-winner in three sports: football, baseball, and track. In the summer of 1958, Keady graduated from Kansas State with a B.S. in biological sciences and physical education.
Professional.
Keady was drafted in the 19th round of the 1958 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers (223rd overall pick) but did not play.
Coaching career.
High school.
With his football playing career over, Keady returned to Kansas in 1959 where he accepted a teaching and coaching position at Beloit Junior-Senior High School in Beloit, Kansas. The only coaching position open at the school was for the basketball team. Keady coached in Beloit for six years from 1959 to 1965. Keady understood the value of education and never stopped learning, even while he was coaching. In 1964, he earned his master's degree in education from Kansas State. While coaching high school basketball, he compiled a record of 142 wins to 47 losses ().
College.
Keady began his college coaching career with Hutchinson Junior College in Hutchinson, Kansas. He served as the assistant coach for the Blue Dragons starting in 1965. After only one year, Keady was promoted to take over the head coaching position. Under Keady's leadership the Blue Dragons won six Jayhawk Conference titles, and Keady earned the title of junior college coach of the year three times (1971, 1972, 1973) for his region. The highlight of his early coaching career came in 1973 when Hutchinson finished second in the junior college national tournament after completing the season with 29 wins and 4 losses. His overall record at Hutchinson was 187–48, ().
Following the 1974 season, Keady moved into NCAA Division I college basketball as an assistant coach for Arkansas. Head coach Eddie Sutton and Keady made the Razorbacks into a perennial national contender. In 1977, Arkansas appeared in the NCAA tournament for the first time in nineteen years. In 1978, Arkansas made it to the Final Four. Although they lost a close game to Kentucky, making it to the Final Four was a huge success for Keady and Sutton. While at Arkansas, Keady gained fame for his impressive recruiting skills. Notable players recruited by Keady include Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph and Sidney Moncrief. During his time at Arkansas, the team accumulated 94 wins with 24 losses,().
Following the third-place finish in the 1978 NCAA tournament, Keady was ready to lead his own team to the tournament. In 1978, he accepted the position of head coach for Western Kentucky University. In his first year as a division one head coach, the team went 17–11, and finished tied for second in the conference. The team improved in his second year to go 21–8 and be named the regular season Ohio Valley Conference Co-Champions. The team won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament. In the first round the team played Virginia Tech, but lost in overtime. While at Western Kentucky, Keady and assistant coach Bruce Weber compiled an overall record of 38–19, ().
Gene Keady became the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball head coach on April 11, 1980. Keady became the winningest coach in school history with 493 victories and second winningest coach in Big Ten Conference history, only behind former rival, Bob Knight, and was the Big Ten Coach of the Year a record seven times. He guided the Boilermakers to 6 Big Ten titles, including three straight outright crowns from 1994 through 1996. Keady hired Matt Painter (1989–1993), as his associate head coach for the 2004–2005 season. He was selected to take over the head coaching position.
Keady retired from coaching Purdue following the 2004–2005 season after leading Purdue to 18 NCAA Tournament appearances. He took the Boilermakers to two Elite Eight appearances and five total Sweet Sixteen appearances. His total NCAA tournament postseason record is 20–19. He led Purdue to five NIT appearances with a record of 12–5 and a Runner-up and third-place finish. Mackey Arena's basketball court was named "Keady Court" in dedication to him. In October 2006 Keady was named the recipient of the 2007 "John R. Wooden "Legends of Coaching" Award". Keady is the ninth recipient of this award, as it was created in 1999. While coaching at Purdue, Gene was quoted by saying, "Recruiting is a lot like shaving, if you miss a day, you look like a bum."
His tenure at Purdue was notable in the number of wins he achieved, despite coaching only one All-American: Glenn Robinson (1993_Consensus 2nd Team & 1994_Consensus 1st Team, Consensus National Player of the Year). Seven of his other players also earned honors from the All_American selectors:
Keith Edmonson (1982_AP Honorable Mention); Troy Lewis (1987 & 1988_AP Honorable Mention), Todd Mitchell (1988_NABC - 3rd Team, AP Honorable Mention); Steve Scheffler (1990_AP & UPI 3rd Team), Cuonzo Martin (1995_AP Honorable Mention); Chad Austin (1998_AP Honorable Mention), Brad Miller (1998_AP Honorable Mention).
In October 2010, newly hired St. John's coach Steve Lavin hired Keady to be his assistant coach. His main roles as an assistant to Lavin were breaking down game film and serving as a bench coach on game days.
International.
In 2000, Keady was an assistant coach for the Dream Team; while coaches are not awarded medals, the team won the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Sydney. 
As the head coach of various USA Basketball teams, Keady racked up a record of 22–2, () in four different tournaments from 1979 to 1991. He led Team USA to two gold medals: one in 1979 at the National Sports Festival, and another in 1989 at the World University Games. Keady also grabbed the silver medal in 1985 at the R. Williams Jones Cup losing to the San Miguel Beer Team of the Philippines coached by Ron Jacobs.
He led Team USA to the bronze at the 1991 Pan-American Games.
Professional.
On December 6, 2005, he accepted a position of an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors offered to him by senior basketball adviser to the president Wayne Embry. The hiring was officially announced by the club on December 9 in a press release. On May 18, 2006 it was announced that Keady would not be returning for the 2006–07 season because of his wife's illness.
Basketball analyst career.
In 2007, The Big Ten Network, a network that airs live sporting events of Big Ten Conference teams and news from around the conference, hired Keady to be a basketball analyst, along with former Big Ten basketball players, Tim Doyle and Jim Jackson. Keady is also an occasional commentator for the network. He attends Purdue home games on a regular basis.
Coaching tree.
The Gene Keady coaching tree is a chain of NCAA basketball coaches who can trace their coaching roots to Gene Keady. Some of the most notable coaches include: