Reports surfaced Thursday afternoon that long-time Notre Dame head basketball coach Mike Brey would be retiring at season’s end. It is truly an understatement to call this a momentous day for a program that has been helmed by the same man for 23 seasons…23!!!
BREAKING: Source tells South Bend Tribune that #NotreDame coach Mike Brey will retire at end of season.
Brey plans to tell team after practice today.
The winningest coach in program history will have spent last 23 seasons at Notre Dame.
Story coming soon.
— Tom Noie (@tnoieNDI) January 19, 2023
My reaction to the news was and still is fairly somber. It was certainly time (perhaps too late), but I really, really wish it could have ended better. I have so many fond memories from Brey’s tenure. He really turned this into a fun, weird program that won an awful lot of games. 2015 was pure magic. It’s sad to me that Brey had to go out this way, especially for someone who is so grounded and easy to like.
I could go on for hours, but the point of this post is to bring you the names surfacing as possible replacements for Mike Brey. I’ve included some thoughts on those options and a couple others that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
Mike Brey Connections
Overall, I’m not in favor of going this route. It’s time for some new ideas and perhaps even some larger philosophical shifts as to what this program is really all about and where it should position itself in the current college basketball landscape. But still, these names make sense to varying degrees and are worth noting.
Martin Ingelsby – Brey’s former assistant and point guard has done a solid job as Delaware’s head coach, culminating in a CAA tournament victory and NCAA tournament berth last season. He also, for my money, was Brey’s best recruiter and has done a nice job on that front bringing some impressive talent to Delaware. That said, Ingelsby has failed to bring the Blue Hens to the upper echelon of the CAA, consistently behind Hofstra, Charleston, and Towson, and has gotten off to a tough start again this season. If he wasn’t a Notre Dame guy, I doubt he’d be a serious candidate.
Chris Quinn – A likely future NBA head coach who is still in his 30s, I’m not sure he has any desire to return to his alma mater. In general, I’m worried about someone who lacks college-level experience. The recruiting landscape and now NIL are such singular challenges and instrumental to any coach’s success. Taking someone without any familiarity with this part of the job is a major concern. Still, his experience as Erik Spoelstra’s trusted deputy is a significant feather in his cap and clear indication of his coaching acumen.
Anthony Solomon – I am more in favor of this than most. Solomon’s head coaching stint at St. Bonaventure’s was an eternity ago and under considerable NCAA sanctions. His experience at Notre Dame, as well as vital stops at Georgetown and especially Dayton, is far more pertinent in my mind. He is an outstanding recruiter who really relates well to people while also earning praise for his ability to hold guys accountable. But…this year happened, and it happened under his watch too in addition to Mike Brey. It’s hard not to think it’s time for a clean break despite his other merits.
Power Conference Coaches
Fran McCaffery – A long-time Notre Dame assistant, McCaffery had an impressive turn at Siena before heading to Iowa and building a consistent program with a prolific offense. I’ve always appreciated his ability to collect misfit toys and turn it into something competitive. Still, his postseason record is laughable, a criticism that dogged Brey for years until (and for some even after) the 2015 and 2016 tournament runs. More importantly, to me at least, McCaffery’s general demeanor is a complete disgrace and would make him unfit to follow an affable figure like Mike Brey. Not even remotely worth the baggage.
Porter Moser – A message board favorite, but I’m not so sure. He hasn’t exactly hit the ground running at Oklahoma, admittedly a strange fit in a preposterously difficult conference. He did nothing of note at Illinois State and, for a long time, Loyola until he turned them into an absolute four-year juggernaut seemingly out of nowhere. Was that a flash in the pan of an otherwise unimpressive career. Or is there something there ready to be unleashed at the high major level? Worth noting he’s a nice fit as a Midwestern, Catholic guy.
Micah Shrewsberry – The current Penn State head coach has extensive Indiana connections, including most notably as Brad Stevens’s assistant at Butler during their back-to-back national title runs. He would later rejoin Stevens with the Boston Celtics after a brief tenure at Purdue (where he returned for a couple years after leaving Boston). Shrewsberry also was head coach at nearby IUSB before heading to Butler, so he’s familiar with the area. Widely respected as an up-and-coming coach, he has had a so-so year-and-a-half at Penn State thus far, which merits some caution.
Mid-Major Options
Darian DeVries –Â A long-time Creighton assistant for both Dana Altman and Greg McDermott, DeVries has been a tremendous success at Drake, already winning MVC Coach of the Year twice in four years. This is particularly impressive at Drake, an already struggling program which was in major flux after Niko Medved left them in the dust for Colorado State after just one season. I bet most would be unimpressed if he becomes the guy, but he’s going to be a power conference coach very soon.
Pat Kelsey – The on-court results at Winthrop and now College of Charleston, which may be the best non-WCC mid-major in the country this season, are undeniably impressive. That said, the move to Charleston was weird for a seemingly up-and-coming coach. He may have some stigma attached to him after spurning UMass literally minutes before he was to be announced as their head coach in 2017. Something seems a little off here, but he’s definitely got the resume for a big leap.
Wild Cards
Sean Sweeney – A guy who some see as a, if not the, favorite for the job. Sweeney is a fast-rising NBA assistant for the Dallas Mavericks who also happens to love Notre Dame. Seriously, his family has a house in South Bend, and he’s apparently friends with football head coach Marcus Freeman. Sometimes the stars are aligned for a reason. Still, the lack of college and/or head coaching experience is a major concern. Also, maybe it’s just me, but most of his coaching career has come under Jason Kidd, which doesn’t exactly give me the warm and fuzzies for multiple reasons. Possibly the most fascinating name on the list.
Monty Williams – Another who I doubt is interested, even though he might be out of a job soon. I can’t quite explain it, but I actually think he would struggle at the college level. He has a very relational style that is of course universally respected. But would that work in modern recruiting? Might he get incredibly frustrated with that whole world? Would the roster churn of today’s game neutralize his greatest strengths as a teacher and motivator? I don’t know, but I keep coming back to college being such a different job than the NBA. Would be an incredibly easy guy to root for, though, and certainly offer the program some much-needed juice.
Off-the-Radar
Mitch Henderson – One that probably hasn’t done quite enough to earn this level of promotion, but Henderson strikes me as a very smart guy and has spent most of his career at Northwestern and now as the head coach at Princeton. His Tigers very nearly knocked off the Irish in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Princeton has consistently stayed at or near the top of the Ivy League during his long tenure there. Though he’s a Princeton legend and may very well be a lifer, Henderson also has local roots, having grown up in Indiana and attended nearby Culver Academies for high school.
Kyle Smith – I’ve long had my eye on Smith, once a Randy Bennett assistant at Saint Mary’s throughout the 2000s. He has since done a great job elevating programs as diverse as Columbia, San Francisco, and Washington State. Columbia was an absolute bottom-feeder in the Ivy League before he arrived. He made them respectable enough to finish 3rd twice. Same thing with Washington State, one of the worst power conference teams in the 2010s. The Cougars are now at least consistently a top-80 KenPom team, and last year he took them to the NIT for the first time in over a decade. He lacks a hallmark accomplishment at any of those stops but his defensive chops and so-called “Nerdball” analytics-heavy philosophy would be fascinating in South Bend.
Final Verdict
I can kinda talk myself into and out of most of these guys (except McCaffery). Obviously, we will learn a lot more as time goes on and some of these coaches start interviewing. It will be fascinating to watch a couple of them a little more closely this season knowing they might be our future coach.
Despite my concerns noted above, Quinn or Sweeney would be absolutely fascinating. I could easily see either or both interviewing well and laying out a compelling coaching philosophy and vision for recruiting.
I’m just learning about him, but DeVries has an almost ideal pedigree and has been super impressive at Drake. I’m also certain that my Kyle Smith fascination is completely off-base and not an option. But I’d be excited by the possibility.
But I’m going to go with Micah Shrewsberry as the guy I think we’ll ultimately land. He is a great fit and likely knows Penn State is an impossible job. He needs to leave sooner rather than later. Shrewsberry also has a great reputation as a recruiter and has elevated the talent level at Penn State both from high school and the portal. He has also won some of the toughest B1G games on their schedule, no easy feat and something Pat Chambers could never really do. I’d have some reservations but am placing an early wager on Shrewsberry being the next head coach at Notre Dame.
Shrewsberry seems like a logical fit and pretty close to a home run considering the reputation he’s already made at Penn State. I am intrigued by Sweeney, as is seemingly everyone. If the program were in great shape right now I would be much more amenable to taking a risk like that. My totally uninformed pick would probably be DeVries; you noted that Drake is a borderline impossible job in a solid conference and he’s done remarkably well there.
Should note, I’m sure someone (maybe me) will have a more navel-gazing look at the Brey era on this site in the near future. The last few years have obscured it a bit, but it’s kind of unreal how many truly memorable moments Mike Brey helped create at Notre Dame.
My earliest “oh hell yeah” ND MBB memory was the 3 point and-one buzzer beater to force overtime against Georgetown. I think that was Quinn that hit that shot, right? It’s been a while haha. I know ND still lost the game in OT, but it was cool as hell regardless
Colin Falls! I was at that game. Arena went nuts. IIRC Falls just stuck out his leg in hopes that a Georgetown guy would be dumb enough to run into it and he did.
YES! Falls had the 4 point play and Quinn had that heartbreaking near-make at the end of OT1 that would have won it. Wild atmosphere for sure
I am old enough to remember the end of the Phelps era, and there are a lot of parallels to the end of the Brey era. Living in DC, I know a lot of people who know Brey personally and all, as does everyone, attest to him being a great guy. Much like the end of the Digger era, the roster needs to be almost entirely redone. The next hire will tell us a lot about what the vision is for the program. I agree we need a break from the Brey coaching tree. Perhaps Brey was never a great recruiter or perhaps he got lazy or perhaps the world changed, or more likely some combination, but the team is devoid of many things, not the least of which is talent. The fact that Brey never went more than 7 deep is pretty damning of what he recruited. The questions is what do we want to be. There was a time, not too long ago, where ND was in the Top 10 or 15 in all time win percentage in Mens BB, so saying the program is attached to the bumper of the football program ignores the history of the program. The get old- stay old philosophy, in my mind is a surrender to being a mid-major program in a Power 5 conference. To win championships (something Gonzaga – probably the leading practitioner of GOSO – has never done) you need higher quality athletes. As we have seen this year, there is a reason these sixth year seniors are not playing in the NBA. The old guys can provide a steadying force to the younger stars, but the stars have to dominate. As a philisophical matter, will we allow the next coach to go after one and dones or two and throughs? We may not want to go after the ones that are known to be that way and none of them may want to come, but we should be recruiting more Blake Wesleys. It may come as a shock to some people, but we have always had players who left early for the NBA. Many of the better players in Notre Dame history. If the recruiting profiles of any football player looked like all (or nearly all) of the profiles of Brey’s recruits over the last 10 years, we would accuse Freeman of recruiting like Willingham. Much like Freeman, the new coach has to embrace Notre Dame and its benefits. To get better quickly, we will need the transfer portal? Niele Ivey was able to use it, why can’t the new coach? If the new coach can’t, I don’t even want to think about how ugly the next few years will be. This job requires an up and coming coach. I am uncertain about NBA pedigree and the stress and strain of recruiting is new to an NBA coach. We hired John MacLeod to replace Digger. Great NBA coach, terrible college coach. However, he was more of a ROADie… Read more »
I go back and forth on the outside/inside the box dilemma. I agree with a lot of your line of thinking regarding a need for a boost in recruiting to be able to compete in today’s CBB landscape…but we have no real idea what the true limitations are on recruiting/accepting transfers at ND.
Maybe the hire will tell us all about what the restrictions are. I think I agree with you: Sweeney + the admin opening some recruiting/transfer options to allow him to try to succeed seems like a best case scenario. But Sweeney + antiquated transfer rules / the usual recruiting limitations could be a disaster. If the admin is gonna hold firm, then Shrewsberry or DeVries may be a better answer, even if it’s less fun.
Through the end of last season ND is 12th in all-time winning percentage, 8th in all-time wins, and in a 4 way tie for 1st with 2 all-time ties. These numbers are from wikipedia. Qualifying for the list requires at least 25 seasons at the D1 level.
Thanks for this, Dannan14 (if that’s your class date, same as my older son 🙂
Men’s BB always interested me, even though football has dominated our ND sports fandom and spirit since the Rambler days. My dad knew Moose Kraus, who besides being AD for 32 (!) years was one hell of a BB player. I myself remember the Digger Phelps glory years — in fact, roomed next to two of our stars (Bob Whitmore being one, DC recruit) . And Mike Brey has brought us some very good wins. I’d love to see our program get back to at least our version of glory days — maybe we’ll always be a “football school” (in the NIL era I kind of hope so anyway!) but we should be at the height of our best years in BB as well. Sorry, rambling on, but this whole thread has got me fiercely hoping for one of those magically good coaching hires.
That is why I don’t think we should settle. We should be proud and reclaim that glory. 12th is good. We should be able to compete.
It is probably unfair to Shrewsberry or DeVries, who may be excellent coaches and great hires, but both feel like we would be content with glorified mid-major status.
We may ultimately need to be a GOSO type team, but I would want a core of players who have the ability to leave early. The mess we have this year is GOSO to an unacceptable extreme.
I don’t blame you for thinking this way or necessarily think it’s wrong. Honestly, I’d love a weird, go-for-broke kinda hire just to see what happens. I know every hire feels existentially important, but you can just reset in 3 years and the new guy can turn things around pretty quickly.
Completely agree on the roster makeup, just entirely incompatible with the nature of the game today.
Other weird ideas that could be interesting (not necessarily good):
Buzz Williams – He has said a coach should basically shoot for 5 years at a school, then plan to leave. Anything longer leads to a stale relationship and possible resentment. He’s been at A&M for 4 years, and this is by far his best season there, so he probably isn’t leaving. He isn’t a guy who is likely to elevate the program, but he could stabilize it for a few years.
Shaka Smart – Basically the opposite of Buzz Williams. This is a swing for the fences hire; I would expect him to either raise ND Basketball’s profile, or crater things. The biggest immediate upside to this hire would be that it would steal the coach of my least favorite basketball program in the country.
T. J. Otzelberger – I don’t see any reason he would leave Iowa State, except for a big payday. ND was supposedly paying Mike Brey about 25% more than Otzelberger, so it’s doable. I think he would be a home run hire, but is ND a better job than Iowa State, even at a $500k raise?
Ed Cooley – Similar to Buzz Williams, I think he would immediately come in and stabilize the program. Would he have any interest in moving to the ACC? He’s coached at Fairfield and Providence, so maybe a bigger-name program would interest him? Probably not, but would be an interesting phone call.
There are no 6th year guys on the ND roster. There are six 5th year guys and 5 play. Feel sorry for Hammond who thought he was joining an NCAA team.
FWIW Cormac Ryan could be a 6th year next season. Seems unlikely as he will be 25 before the 23-24 season.
Anytime I happen to watch a few minutes of an Iowa game, Franny always seems to be 7 seconds away from actually crying on the sideline. Not a fan. (I have an odd hatred for Iowa basketball – Jess Settles is still #2 on my all time college basketball hate list. #1 with a bullet is Brian Cardinal. Gene Keady is #3. I guess screw Purdue basketball as well.)
Nice to see you posting again — been missing that the past time. I look forward to a great retrospective on the best moments of the Mike Brey era.
Fascinating discussion topic and nice laydown. I do think that ND will remain ND and that our BB coach, even if a dramatic, change of pace, will need to buy in to helping even the one and done’s get the most out of their university experience. As a hiring criterium, just sayin’.
I guess there’s no traction on 18 Stripes for this next point, but it looks like WBB is doing better this year, and if anybody follows any of that I’d be grateful for a take. It’s hard to follow a legend, and it would be great if success could come to Coach Ivie.
Thanks! We will certainly have a few retrospectives on the Brey era in the coming weeks!
Love what Ivey is doing and her offensive philosophy, plus an insane incoming recruiting class. Exciting times for sure, would love to see them break through as a true title contender but they feel like their a tier behind the very top teams.
I’m curious what makes PSU such a bad job. Coaching in a pretty undesirable city underneath a massive football shadow sounds really similar to this job. With the added bonus of difficult inbound transfer rules and making guys actually go to class and progress towards degrees. I have 0.0 love for PSU, but I’ve never been sure the ND job was a particularly good one. Even when frustrated with Brey, it was pretty easy to see replacing him was always going to be difficult. I just hope ND can pull this off without a sad slide into obscurity.
Literally no history of basketball success, absolutely no money whatsoever, incredibly difficult conference, stiff competition for any local recruiting footprint.
I don’t know where the ND job ranks nationally, but it’s got some things going for it at least and almost certainly better than Penn State.
Good point. I guess our glimmers of glory far outweigh the nothing burger that is PSU hoops.
Do they still do Blackout Thursdays? Or whatever day of the week it was. I think they did 2 while I was in school. The greatest games ever, not that anyone remembers the second halfs.
Sean Sweeney sounds like the Tommy Rees of basketball.
I like the sound of the mid-major options best. I think we have to take a shot, get an up- and-comer with new ideas. They have head coach experience and understand the college environment. ND can give them a pay raise without going to Brey’s level of compensation until they prove themselves. If they can’t get the program on the right track in three years, then ND can move on to the next candidate.
I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. Rees gets a lot of praise as an innovator and getting the most out of the hand he’s dealt.
That latter phrase sums up the best in Tommy Rees since he stepped on campus.
With the resignation of Brey, I got curious on which programs Swarbrick has had to oversee the head coaching search for, turns out, almost all of them. The exceptions are:
Hockey – Jeff Jackson -2005
Men’s Lacrosse – Kevin Corrigan -1989
Rowing – Martin Stone – 1997
Softball – Deanna Gumpf – 2002
Kevin Corrigan, what an absolute legend. I’ve been out of grad school for more than a decade and he was coaching ND lax when I was 2 years old.
There’s some interesting package deals with your names.
DeVries has a talented son, Tucker who is just a soph. Devries seems destined to leave Drake after this season because their rotation is similar to ND, several super seniors.
I’ve always thought Ed Cooley would be an excellent candidate. His two best players at Providence are sophs that ND recruited out of high school: Hopkins and Carter. Would they transfer with him. Both have already transferred so they would likely need waivers. Hopkins is a star.
Henderson at Providence has the returning ivy league player of the year who has to transfer if he wants to use his final year of eligibility. He’s an athletic forward. Also has another big man with a 5th year available.
FWIW Henderson has to be quite familiar with the top Ivy League player in Chris Ledlum at Harvard. Also has one year left and ND recruited him out of high school.
The WSU coach has shown he can at least recruit big men.
Sweeney would be interesting. He’s a workaholic who has the respect of top NBA players. I could see prospective recruits impressed by top NBA players tweeting congratulations and glowing comments about him.
BTW I’m not as high on Shrewsberry. It seems like he might have a job with very minimal pressure on him. He replaced Pat Chambers who was 56-110 in the big ten and was only fired because he rough on.players.
Great thoughts! I agree these package deals, while obviously not a reason to make a hiring decision, could at least help smooth over a transition year next year that is looking very bleak right now. I definitely think DeVries’s kid could be a valuable addition at this level.
I’m a little more skeptical on Cooley than others. I don’t see him raising the profile of this program, almost like another Brey, constantly solid and interesting and a genuinely good dude, but don’t expect many banners. He’s never really had a breakthrough at Providence in his long tenure. He may be in the middle of one right now, although the advanced metrics continue to be skeptical of all their wins. I’m not even convinced that Providence is a “worse” job than ND and that he would want a change, as it’s at least a basketball-only school in a competitive but very manageable conference.
Agreed that Cooley probably doesn’t raise the profile of the program, but at this point, raising the profile might be a dream for this program. Instead, Cooley could be a guy who stabilizes things after Brey’s recent struggles.
Cooley has basically only had 1 really bad year, and I’m willing to give a pass to anybody who struggled that first Covid season. Other than that, his worst year at Providence (other than year 1) still involved an NIT bid. He’s had tournament struggles, just like Brey, but I could live with that if he can re-stabilize the program.
The question of whether ND is a worse job that Providence is a big one. If I was Cooley, I probably wouldn’t want to jump ship. He’s in the middle of a strong 2 year stretch. He’s been able to bring in some good transfers. He likely has a higher salary than Brey. The more I think about it, the more likely it would be that he would have little interest in the ND job. Maybe another early exit from the NCAA Tournament might make him consider other jobs, but probably not.
No. 23: Ed Cooley, Providence, $3,450,550
From USA Today, March of 2022
Brey didn’t make their top 35.
Boydsbets.com has this for Brey:
Mike Brey Notre Dame $1,227,910
If we want great basketball this might be one of those times where ND pays the incoming coach more than the leaving coach.