Purdue’s Matt Painter Goes Off On “Absolute Fools” Who Don’t Value Degrees
College basketball is currently the Wild West. We’ve got the transfer portal spinning like a revolving door, NIL deals that look more like corporate mergers, and players jumping ship faster than you can say “buzzer-beater.” But amidst the chaos, Purdue’s Matt Painter is standing his ground like a brick wall in the paint, reminding everyone about one old-school concept that seems to be getting lost in the shuffle: the actual education.
The 21-year veteran of the Boilermakers isn’t buying the narrative that school is secondary. In fact, if you think the degree doesn’t matter anymore, Painter has a message for you: You’re out of your mind.
Following Purdue’s absolute drubbing of Kent State (101-60) on Monday night, Painter took the podium. But instead of just breaking down X’s and O’s, he tackled the 800-pound gorilla in the room, the morphing landscape of the NCAA. Specifically, the conversation turned to Baylor signing former NBA draft pick James Nnaji mid-season.
It’s a different world out there, folks. But Painter? He’s keeping his eyes on the long game.
The “Life After the Buzzer” Reality Check
Here is the thing about sports: the ball eventually stops bouncing. For 99% of these kids, the jersey comes off, the sneakers get hung up, and real life hits you square in the jaw. That is why Painter is fiercely protective of the scholarship opportunity.
“I want that person not to have a great basketball career, I want that person to have a great life,” Painter told reporters. “I don’t like anything that diminishes education. People say education is out the window; they’ve lost their minds.”
He didn’t stop there. He doubled down with the kind of heat usually reserved for a bad referee call.
“It doesn’t mean you have to be successful by getting an education, but go look at the data, go look at the numbers,” he continued. “When people say getting a degree and education doesn’t matter now, they’re fools. They’re absolute fools. Education matters.”
You can feel the frustration, right? It’s not just about winning games for Painter; it’s about making sure his guys don’t end up lost when the cheering stops. He notes that even among the pros, the vast majority eventually have to find a second career. Fighting for their education is fighting for their future survival.
A Leadership Vacuum at the Top
Matt Painter isn’t screaming into the void alone. He’s joined a chorus of heavy hitters—Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Dan Hurley, Mark Few, who are looking at the NCAA leadership and asking, “Is anybody home?”
The frustration stems from a lack of guardrails. The Baylor signing of Nnaji is just the latest symptom of a system with no clear boundaries. It feels like the rules are being written in invisible ink, and the coaches are tired of squinting.
“We just want to know the rules so we can abide by them,” Painter explained, sounding like a guy who just wants to play a fair game of Monopoly without someone flipping the board. “We don’t know what’s going on. We need some leadership, we need somebody to step up [and tell us] here’s how it’s run… Give us the rules, and we’ll abide by them.”
He made a poignant observation that sums up the integrity of the sport: “The rules aren’t for the people who cheat, it’s for the people who abide by them.”
The Bottom Line On Matt Painter
Right now, the NCAA looks less like a governing body and more like a substitute teacher who lost control of the classroom. There’s zero control, communication is spotty at best, and the chaos is palpable.
Until someone steps up to wrangle this beast, we’re going to keep seeing questions, confusion, and more coaches like Matt Painter wondering why the “student” part of “student-athlete” is being treated like an inconvenience rather than the prize.
For now, Painter will keep winning games—but he’s made it clear he intends to keep winning at life, too. And that starts in the classroom, whether the “fools” like it or not.
