The Indiana basketball and Purdue rivalry has hit hard times. Matt Painter has no coaching concerns at the latter school. IU, however, is changing coaches soon with Mike Woodson out after this season.
The Hoosiers and Woodson pulled a massive stunner in Bloomington on Sunday, though, beating Painter’s Boilermakers 73-58. Woodson even got showered with praise near midcourt.
The Indiana team with a group hug to Mike Woodson and then Woodson embraces the famous Bob Knight chair.
Special moment. #iubb pic.twitter.com/lLx0Kiemdt
— Kyler Staley (@kylerstaley) February 23, 2025
The defeated coach, meanwhile, watched Purdue unravel after halftime. He became blunt after the loss. Painter, though, pulled this stunner in the IU-Purdue rivalry: He defended Woodson, a longtime rival coach.
Painter even dropped a fiery message to the Hoosiers’ fanbase after taking the 15-point loss inside Assembly Hall.
Purdue HC Matt Painter fires off advice to Indiana basketball fans
Painter relentlessly criticized IU’s fans postgame, captured via Jared Kelly of peegs.com on 247Sports. Woodson was dealt with roster turnover from what Painter saw, which hindered his plans in building the Hoosiers.
“They’ve had a lot of turnover, obviously. Got to look at the common denominators here, more than anything. I think that’s an important piece,” Painter said.
But then Painter sent out multiple pieces of advice — directed toward IU fans.
“Don’t beat yourself, let’s support somebody. Let’s try that out for once when s— goes wrong,” Painter said. “A fanbase isn’t the people who tweet. A fanbase is the people you’re leading to support you. They jump on and off things way too much.”
Painter wasn’t through. He believes IU needs to be more supportive moving forward.
“Support your coach, support your players, don’t tweet negative things about them and be supportive. See how that works for you,” Painter said.
Matt Painter with a very candid answer when asked about Mike Woodson’s impending departure, what IU should be looking for in a new head coach. #iubb pic.twitter.com/uOgnVGlv7g
— Jared Kelly (@Jared_Kelly7) February 23, 2025
Painter is joining the rest of the NCAA coaching fraternity in getting players to navigate through the social media era. He cleared up who each program’s real fanbase is, including Purdue’s.
“Everyone has a bad percentage of a fanbase because of Twitter. We think that’s our fanbase. That’s not our fanbase and not their real fanbase either. But it’s hard for young people to hear all that at and then go out, collectively and say ‘Hey, we’re playing for you guys but you dog us when we lose but we’re the best when we win,’” Painter said. “So we’re somewhere in between. But support the coach and staff and be grounded with them.”
Indiana improved to 16-11 overall after the romp of the Boilermakers. The Hoosiers are 10th in the Big Ten standings.
The post Matt Painter offers sage advice for Indiana fans amid basketball coaching search appeared first on ClutchPoints.
