WEST LAFAYETTE − After 96 games in a Purdue basketball jersey, Isaiah Thompson sought a new opportunity.
Thompson, a sharpshooting guard from Zionsville, found it in sunny Fort Myers, Florida.
But the search for the next basketball opportunity brought Thompson home, back to the Boilermaker bench.
“That speaks a lot of coach (Matt) Painter,” Thompson said. “He didn’t have to bring me back. I decided to leave here and he still gave me an opportunity to come back.”
Thompson, who played for the Boilers from 2019-22, was a starting guard the past two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, where he was an All-ASUN Conference selection in 2022-23.
After exhausting his eligibility, Thompson was stuck with a dilemma: Go overseas and play professionally, or begin his coaching journey.
Thompson is currently in his first season of a two-year role as a graduate assistant coach.
Purdue basketball family
Painter’s tenure as Purdue basketball coach has tied in the past and present as family.
Sometimes literally.
Last year’s national championship runner-up team featured three players − Chase Martin, Carson Barrett and Brian Waddell − who were sons of Painter’s former Purdue basketball teammates.
That team also featured a young coach, himself a former Purdue point guard, who was bestowed the duties of running the Boilermaker offense − P.J. Thompson.
More: Purdue’s P.J. Thompson star on rise. ‘Going to be one of best college coaches in country’
In 2019, as Isaiah Thompson was beginning his college basketball journey as a freshman, P.J. was in the same graduate assistant position Isaiah would eventually find himself in five years later.
“I’ve seen him grow from a G.A. to player development to assistant coach leading the offense,” Isaiah said of his older brother. “He was working me out when I was playing my first two years. I’ve seen his growth and I’ve seen him learn. I am trying to do that in the same way.”
So when Isaiah Thompson played his last college game, one in which he made seven 3s and scored 31 points in an ASUN tournament loss last March, he knew who to call about the next step.
After his college career was over, P.J. Thompson played in the Netherlands with visions of that being a long-term solution. But Painter, along with Thompson’s father, LaSalle, a former prep star in Indianapolis before a Division I basketball career who now makes his name in the Indy area as a basketball trainer, delivered some truth bombs to young P.J.
If he was serious about coaching, it was better to get in it now, rather than 10 years down the road.
And big brother passed that advice on to Isaiah.
“Hey, if you want to go play for a year to say you’re a professional player, do it. You’re young,” P.J. recalls saying to Isaiah. “But if coaching is what you want to do, you don’t get many opportunities, let alone at a program like Purdue.”
Back in Boilermaker country
It can be a blow to a head coach when a player delivers the news he wants to transfer.
So long as there’s a valid reason, and bridges aren’t burned in the process, it can be easier to absorb.
Isaiah Thompson’s reason was more playing time. At Purdue, he’d seen his minutes per game dip from 18.7 as a freshman to 17.8 as a sophomore and 16.4 as a junior. He averaged more than 30 minutes per game in each of his two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast.
P.J. Thompson wondered how his brother’s departure would affect his relationship with his boss.
It didn’t.
Instead, Painter would check box scores and ask P.J. for updates. Meanwhile, in Florida, Isaiah Thompson was still watching every Purdue game.
And ultimately, the door re-opened for a more mature Isaiah Thompson, who had new experiences.
“He’s been around the game his whole life. His dad is a guy that’s coached and trained and played at two Division I institutions (Indiana State and Ball State) and obviously his brother played here,” Painter said. “He’s from a basketball family and anytime you can have guys like that around your players on a daily basis who get it and understand it, your players are going to benefit from it.”
Isaiah Thompson’s role with Purdue basketball
As a player, you’re trying to absorb a lot of information, sometimes in a short time span.
As you work up the coaching ladder, that again eventually becomes the case.
But as a graduate assistant, Isaiah Thompson has eased into coaching. His current duties are to assist the defensive staff and draw up out of bounds plays.
“It’s great experience for a young coach to give him just specific things that he’s looking for as I’m kind of putting everything together,” said assistant coach Paul Lusk, Purdue’s defensive guru. “He’s grown. He’s got to go see another program and really appreciate Purdue. And now, he’s back and it’s really been a seamless transition for him.”
When Isaiah Thompson made the decision to transfer to Florida Gulf Coast, it was based on playing time. As his two years in Fort Myers progressed, Thompson began studying his head coach, Pat Chambers, who’d previously led Penn State.
He started comparing and contrasting coaching techniques with those of Painter, and blending the two to create what Thompson’s own coaching style could be someday.
“I was seeing how I envision my style if I’m fortunate enough to stay in the business of coaching,” Isaiah Thompson said. “I’ve always known I wanted to get into coaching. I didn’t think it would be this early, but that’s how it happened.
“And now I feel like the earlier you’re in the business, the better off you are because the more you can learn, the more you can grow as a coach.”
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Isaiah Thompson relishes second chance with Purdue basketball
