Purdue men’s basketball head coach Matt Painter has announced that a familiar face will return to the Mackey Arena sidelines, as Paul Lusk has been named an assistant coach for the Boilermakers.
Lusk’s return marks his second stint with the Boilermakers, serving as an assistant coach / associate head coach for seven years from 2005-11. During that time with the Boilermakers, Lusk helped Purdue to five NCAA Tournaments, two Sweet 16 appearances, and a Big Ten regular-season and tournament championship, while boasting one of America’s strongest defenses.
“I’m extremely excited to come back and work with Coach Painter. Purdue is a special place and I can’t wait to get started with this group,” Lusk said. “Purdue is a place of consistency and with consistency comes success. There have been two coaches here in the last 40 years and I have been fortunate enough to work with and learn from both of them.”
“We are excited to welcome Paul and his family back to Purdue,” Painter said. “He obviously has experience in our program and was very instrumental in our success during his previous stint. Paul is very detail-oriented and has excellent knowledge about the game both as a player and coach and will be a very beneficial addition to our staff.”
For the last three seasons, Lusk has been an assistant coach at Creighton, helping the Bluejays to a 66-31 record during that span. Creighton won a share of the Big East regular-season title in 2020, and reached both the Big East Tournament title game and the Sweet 16 (for the first time since 1974) during this past season.
Over the past three seasons, the Bluejays defense was ranked 83rd, 78th and 32nd in national defensive efficiency, their best mark since the 2006 season. He was named a top-five assistant coach in the Big East by Stadium following the 2020 season.
Lusk was also instrumental in the development of all-Big East honorees Marcus Zegarowsky, Damien Jefferson and Denzel Mahoney.
Lusk arrived in Omaha after spending the previous seven seasons as a head coach at Missouri State, winning 105 games and advancing to the Arch Madness semifinals in both 2014 and 2017. His 2013-14 club went 20-13 and reached the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, while his 2017-18 team went 18-15.
Lusk coached 10 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team selections, six All-MVC players, four All-Freshman Team picks, four members of the MVC All-Newcomer Team and two members of The Valley’s Most-Improved Team in seven seasons in Springfield. He also coached the 2016 and 2017 MVC Newcomers of the Year, as well as current Brooklyn Nets forward Alize Johnson.
Lusk arrived at Missouri State after seven seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach at Purdue. During his tenure on the Purdue coaching staff, Lusk helped guide the Boilermakers to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with a collective 129-45 ledger during that span.
Noted for his defensive prowess, Lusk helped guide a Purdue defense that ranked in the top 16 in defensive efficiency for five straight seasons from 2007 to 2011. During that five-year stretch, Purdue had seven All-Big Ten defensive team members and three Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honorees (Chris Kramer – 2008 and 2010; JaJuan Johnson – 2011).
In 2010, he was named by FoxSports.com as one of the nation’s top 25 high-major assistant coaches. In April 2011, Lusk was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame.
Before moving to Purdue, he spent one season on Painter’s staff at Southern Illinois in 2003-04, a campaign that also culminated in an NCAA Tournament berth, a No. 15 national ranking and a 25-5 record.
Prior to that, he spent one season as head coach at the University of Dubuque. His head coaching debut came on the heels of three seasons at Division II Missouri Southern State in Joplin where he was an assistant. The Lions were 71-21 in that span (1999-2002) with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999-2000. His coaching career started with a one-year stint as an assistant at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.
The native of New Baden, Illinois, began his playing career at Iowa in 1990 where he spent two years before he found a home at Southern Illinois under head coach Rich Herrin. He helped guide the Salukis to three straight NCAA Tournament trips (1993-95), earning All-MVC second-team honors in 1994 with a 15.2 scoring average as a junior. As a senior, he earned a spot on the Valley Scholar-Athlete and All-Tournament teams and finished his Saluki career with 1,031 points.
He went on to play professionally both in the United States and Argentina and earned two different invitations to the Phoenix Suns’ training camp.
A 1995 graduate of Southern Illinois, Lusk and his wife Melanie have a daughter, Maddie, and a son, Jack. The couple both earned their Masters of Science in Education from Missouri State in 2000.
The Paul Lusk File
Personal
• Wife – Melanie
• Children – Maddie and Jack
Collegiate Coaching Experience
• Purdue – Assistant Coach (Present)
• Creighton – Assistant Coach (2019-21)
• Missouri State – Head Coach (2012-18)
• Purdue – Assistant/Associate Coach (2005-11)
• Southern Illinois – Assistant Coach (2004)
• Dubuque – Head Coach (2003)
• Missouri Southern State – Assistant Coach (2000-02)
• Southwestern Illinois – Assistant Coach (1999)
Collegiate Playing Experience
• Iowa – Guard (1991-92)
• Southern Illinois – Guard (1993-95)
College Education
• Missouri State – M.S., Education (2000)
• Southern Illinois – B.S., Health Education (1995)
Lusk Joins Purdue Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff
