Winning in the Boilermaker way — with integrity, pride, respect and safety

April 1, 2024

Dear Purdue University community,

On Sunday afternoon in Detroit, Purdue’s men’s basketball team continued the winningest season in program history with a victory that sends our Boilermakers to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 44 years.

Along with so many loyal fans, we have traveled to many games, including the NCAA Division I Tournament games the past two weekends. We are ever grateful for the thundering enthusiasm of Boilermakers even away from Mackey Arena and the outpouring of support for our teams from around the world and back home in West Lafayette, showing everyone how a university campus can celebrate with pride, respect and safety.

We are proud of coach Matt Painter, his staff and our student-athletes not only because of their hard-fought victories, their relentless training and their competitive spirit as a team, but also because they overcome doubt, persist through tough times and get to work even when being overlooked, believing in each small step they take every day. This trip to the Final Four is for all Boilermakers past and present, including the former basketball student-athletes who laid the foundation for this season’s success as well as former head coach Gene Keady.

We are proud of the character reflected in Purdue student-athletes’ conduct, on the court and off the court. It reflects how Purdue pursues intercollegiate athletics in general, even when — or perhaps especially when — the world of college sports is experiencing tremendous turbulence from every possible angle, with negative news nearly each day. Our university has remained steadfast to Purdue’s long-standing values. Our athletics department remains a financially self-supporting entity in its operating budget and relies entirely on philanthropic support to fund athletic scholarships and improvements to physical facilities. Our coaches still uphold institutional values like sportsmanship and integrity. Our student-athletes, all 535 of them, are still students: achieving a cumulative 3.14 GPA that is hardly distinguishable from the campus as a whole and attaining a 90% graduation rate. And last year, 100% of graduating student-athletes were placed into their preferred careers.

We are proud of Purdue’s student-athletes, staff and fans. At this top-notch university, we have college athletics at its finest: winning, and winning in the Boilermaker way.

Thank you to all in our Purdue community, and Boiler Up!

Mung Chiang
President, Purdue University 

Mike Bobinski
Executive Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Purdue University