Paul Lusk

Assistant coach Paul Lusk returns to Purdue for his third season in 2023-24 in his second stint with the Boilermakers. A year ago, the Boilermakers were vastly improved on the defensive end, ranking in the nation’s top 25 in defensive efficiency and holding opponents to 62.7 points per game. Zach Edey was a semifinalist for the National Defensive of the Year and Purdue finished the year with a 29-6 record, won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and earned the fourth No. 1 seed in Purdue history.  During Lusk’s first year at Purdue, the Boilermakers reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history, posted a 29-8 overall record and reached the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the last five tournaments. Lusk was critical in the development of sophomores Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey as both were named all-Big Ten and received All-American mentions. Ivey was selected No. 5 in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, while Edey will return for his junior season as a preseason national Player of the Year candidate.  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. For the previous 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.