BRANDON BRANTLEY IS in the center of it all, as far as Purdue University men’s basketball is concerned. Coming into his 14th year as the Boilermakers’ big man coach, he utilizes patience, experience, and a player’s character when recruiting centers to fit into head coach Matt Painter’s vision.
The Boilers buck the national trend of running a ball screen perimeter game; instead, Painter prefers to pass into the post as the main option.
“I don’t think I have a secret,” says Brantley about his success. “I think we’ve [Purdue] done a great job of getting good players, especially with our big guys. Our offense is a lost art. We’re unique in how we play and still throw the ball inside to the post. Now, everybody runs the ball screen offense, and these young bigs watch NBA games, and they don’t post up anymore. They fall in love with the 3.”
Brantley continues by shining a light on the evolution of the game.
“I think that’s what makes college basketball so unique and great to watch. That style of low post play does still exist, and you can be successful by doing it. The guys that we’ve gotten in here that have become really good were also good players to begin with. Were they ready coming in from day one? Probably not, but there was something there to work with,” Brantley says.
Recently enshrined into the 2026 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Brantley is very unassuming and modest about his success and involvement when teaching some of the best centers in college basketball.
“It’s my job as a coach to develop guys and make them better,” he says. “But when they come in with the will and the mind to be great players, it makes my job that much easier. They’ve got to show up every single day and put their bodies through it. So, I always tell people, don’t give me the credit, give those kids the credit,” he admits.
Arguably the best center seen in recent years was two-time consensus Naismith College Player of the Year Zach Edey. But this Boiler great slipped by nearly everyone’s radar in high school, except Purdue’s.
“A lot of coaches want a ready-made player. That’s where Purdue is different because we’ll take the developmental guys. We’ll develop them to the point where they are better than those guys that were recruited ahead of them,” says the 1991 Andrean High School grad.
“The report on Edey was that he had great size, great hands, and he was tough. When he got here, if somebody told me he’d be a two-time consensus Player of the Year, I would have laughed in their face.”
Brantley continues, “But I underestimated what was in his heart. That’s what he wanted. He wanted to be a great basketball player. That’s the only thing he had on his mind. Give credit to him because every single day, he showed up. I worked with him, but he deserves the credit. By the time he was a senior, I didn’t have to tell him anything.”
The idea of coaching came to Brantley only after his successful 10-year, four-time league MVP professional playing career in Europe ended.
“Sometimes when you are young, you just don’t know what you want to do. You have to be ready for the day when the ball stops bouncing. I wanted to stay around the game and do something that helps young people. To me, that’s coaching,” he concludes.
As far as a head coaching job, Brantley says the time is not right.
“I’ve got a lot to learn. I’ve been here 14 years, and I work for one of the best coaches in the country. Just listening to him speak, how he teaches guys and runs his program every single day has been nothing short of a master class for me.”
“I’ve got the mindset that when I jump into something, I want to be ready. Me being away for 10 years in Europe, now to be able to come back, coach here, still be connected to my family, and have them be a part of this, it keeps me going. To have my family close by and have them come down to every home game to be a part of this has been nothing short of amazing.”
