INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Purdue head coach Matt Painter is coaching in his first ever NCAA national championship.

He led the Boilermakers to their first Final Four since 1980. Now, they have a chance to hang a national title banner in Mackey Arena.

But this team didn’t happen overnight.

Painter has a motto: Build a program without losing your soul.

That’s what he’s been doing with the Boilers, and it’s thanks to some inspiration from another coaching icon in Indiana.

“That’s actually a line I stole from reading one of Tony Dungy’s books,” Painter said. “I have a lot of respect for him. … It just seemed like he coached the game of football but also had his own values. He wasn’t someone that yells and screams all the time, and I’m someone that doesn’t yell and scream all the time also.”

The shout-out wasn’t something Dungy — former Indianapolis Colts head coach and Super Bowl champion — ever expected to hear.

“I was a little bit shocked, and it was very gratifying,” Dungy said. “That was one of the things Jim Irsay and I talked about when I got to the Colts — that we wanted to build a Super Bowl Champion, we wanted to build a great program, but we wanted to do it the right way. I know Coach Painter, that’s what they’ve done.”

Hearing his own name as being an inspiration to the next generation of coaches was humbling for Dungy.

“Gosh, I watched Gene Keady, and I watched Coach Knight, and I watched all these people, and you don’t think you’re going to elevate into that setting at all where people are watching you,” Dungy said. “But that is a good feeling, and I’m very, very proud of the Purdue team and the way Coach Painter has done this.

Dungy became a legend by winning games in Indianapolis. Painter has a chance to etch himself into history, 1700 miles to the west in a different NFL stadium. Dungy couldn’t be more excited for him.

“I sent him a text and he wrote back, and I just told him that I’m really pulling for them,” Dungy said. “We can all be Boilermaker fans, even if you’re a Hoosier deep down inside. There’s still that state pride and this is us and Big Ten pride. We’re all going to be able to get behind it.”

From the Super Bowl to the NCAA Championship, legends continue to be born here in Indiana.

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• Purdue’s Painter draws closer to elusive title by doing things the old-fashioned way