St. John's head men's
basketball coach Steve
Lavin named former mentor Gene Keady as special assistant and
advisor to the
program on Friday.
Lavin was an assistant under Keady at Purdue from 1988-91 and
went on to coach
UCLA for seven years before being fired after the 2002-03
season.
The Red Storm, who last reached the NCAA Tournament in 2002,
named the former
ESPN analyst as their 19th head coach in March.
Keady, 74, was Purdue's head coach from 1980-2005 and led the
Boilermakers to
six Big Ten titles. He earned six national coach of the year
awards and is
Purdue's all-time wins leader with 512. He also ranks second
on the all-time
Big Ten wins list (262), behind only Bob Knight.
Purdue advanced to postseason play in 22 of Keady's 25 seasons,
including
17 NCAA Tournament berths.
Matt Painter succeeded Keady in April 2005 and has twice been
named Big Ten
coach of the year, including last season.
