Purdue Fans Backing Up Promises

The Boiling Point: Purdue fans seem to be backing up their talk of financial support for the athletic department after it was able to retain Matt Painter.

With a distinct chance of Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter heading to Missouri, Purdue fans clamored on message boards and called the John Purdue Club saying how they would help the athletic department pay for some of the increases related to retaining Purdue.

With Purdue being able to keep Painter in West Lafayette, it looks like many of those are putting their money where their mouth is. In one post alone in “Knucklehead Central” on GoldAndBlack.com, almost 30 people have shared how they’re now members of the John Purdue Club or upgrading their donations. Some of those commitments are in the thousands of dollars.

Nancy Cross, senior associate athletic director for development and sports, said the John Purdue Club has been busy tracking down those people who called and offered to help if Painter stuck around.

“We’re hoping that people understand in order to keep a coach like Matt Painter that it takes resources,” Cross told TheBoilingPoints.com on Wednesday evening. “Our resources don’t come from the University, they come from private funds.
“We’re hoping that people recognize this is huge.”

After the original outcry of financial support to keep Painter, Cross, who worked with Burke all day Wednesday to bring Painter back, to sent a message on Tuesday explaining Purdue was doing everything it could to retain Painter. The only problem was the letter offended some, especially this part.

"Personally, I have been overwhelmed with the number of e-mails pledging to join the John Purdue Club or increase support. Ironically, I believe we would not be in this situation had more than 11% of our current membership participated in the Mackey Challenge and more than 150 of our nearly 9,000 members recruited at least one new member. More of the Big Ten television revenues could have been allocated for compensation for the basketball coaching staff members and less toward the critical path of updating Mackey Arena."

Cross came back with this apology on Wednesday.

"Dear John Purdue Club Members:As a follow-up to my email of Tuesday morning, I want to offer a heartfelt apology if I offended you.As a member of the John Purdue Club, you are part of our greatest affinity group whose generosity has been integral to the accomplishments of our Boilermaker student-athletes.Be assured that we are doing everything we can to make sure Matt Painter remains a Boilermaker."

If you want to help support the Purdue athletic department after retaining Painter, you can find information on how to join the John Purdue Club here. Also, with the Mackey Renovation Project, fans can buy a brick to be placed around the complex to help support the department.