Tag: Mike Brey

Micah Shrewsberry is leaving for Notre Dame, reports confirm

The waiting is over. Micah Shrewsberry is reportedly leaving Penn State for Notre Dame.

Well, this might have been the headline that Penn State fans have been dreading to read.

After a couple of excruciating days of waiting to see if [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] would remain the head coach of Penn State, it seems like he’s made up his mind. It’s been reported by multiple outlets that the Indiana native is heading back home to take over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Shrewsberry will reportedly sign a seven-year contract, worth over $4 million per year with Notre Dame. The athletic department views its program as a total rebuild and will be patient with the building process. Shrewsberry was the number one target for the Fighting Irish and their Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick after previous head coach, [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag], stepped down.

There have been no reports as of now that show what Penn State offered to keep their head coach in State College. It was reported that Penn State Athletic Director, Patrick Kraft, was willing to offer a massive financial commitment to Shrewsberry, including NIL upgrades.

This is extremely disappointing news to Penn State and their fans across the country. It was clear during the March run that there is an appetite for a successful basketball program.

Now, there will be question marks about the health of the program going forward.

Last year’s team was a very senior laden roster. With those players moving on and some of the current and incoming freshmen likely to explore other options, there is major worry about the state of Penn State basketball in the near future.

With the news now official that Shrewsberry is moving on, it’s time for Penn State and their athletic department to hire a coach that shows they’re serious about basketball.

Regardless, this is truly a blow to the basketball program and their fans who have been marred in apathy for decades. It’s extremely disappointing to watch a program being built, to then seeing it potentially collapse overnight.

The details will eventually released about what Shrewsberry was offered by Penn State to keep him in State College. If it was a competitive package and he simply chose his home state over the Nittany Lions, then it’s hard to point fingers at the administration. However, if the offer was underwhelming, that will cause more frustration about how Penn State views the importance of its basketball program.

What is known for sure is that Shrewsberry will be coaching Notre Dame next season and Penn State will have its fourth basketball coach since 2020.

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Mike Brey will not coach at USF after all

Stop the presses.

When it was reported that former Notre Dame coach [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] was about to take over the USF program, reactions were mixed. They ranged from being happy for him to wondering what the heck he was thinking. Whatever one thought, it’s time to throw it all out the window. ESPN’s Pete Thamel has reported that USF’s interest in Brey was just that, and Brey won’t be coaching anywhere next season:

After 28 consecutive seasons of being a head coach at Delaware and then Notre Dame, it probably is best for Brey to take time for himself. Don’t even consider the possibility that he still will help pick his successor with the Irish. He deserves to move to Florida anyway and spend time drinking pina coladas, laying on the beach or whatever. It will be nice to see him on TV in some capacity, but it will be even better knowing he has enough time to detox after so many years in a high-stress job.

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REPORT: Mike Brey set to pursue television and not coach in 2023

Contrary to recent reports, Mike Brey isn’t going to coach at USF.

Former Notre Dame men’s basketball head coach Mike Brey will not be coaching next season according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Instead, the 63-year-old Maryland native will plan on taking some time off and pursuing a career in television.

Brey recently interviewed with the University of South Florida and did not end up getting a job offer from the Bulls. Brey had spent the last 23 seasons with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish going 582-332 including 225-181 in Big East and ACC conference play.  Brey led the Irish to nine NCAA Tournament appearances in his first 13 years in South Bend. The last 10 years however have been less successful. After back-to-back Elite Eight runs in 2015 and 2016, the Irish have missed the tournament in four of the last six seasons in which the tournament has been held.

He also spent five seasons with the University of Delaware from 1995 through the 1999 season, where he led the Blue Hens to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.

While Brey is ready to focus on television, Notre Dame is currently searching for their next head coach. The most recent updates regarding the search have the Fighting Irish’s primary target being Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry, who recently finished his second year with the Nittany Lions.

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College basketball news: Mike Brey headed to South Florida

Mike Brey has found a new home…

Weeks ago, Mike Brey made it clear that he was done at Notre Dame but that he wasn’t done coaching.  Would that mean coaching back home in the Washington, D.C. area?  Would it be on at a high school?  Would he be a consultant for some of his friends in the coaching world?

We have an answer as reports surfaced Monday that Brey will be the next head coach at South Florida.  This makes a lot of sense not only because Brey previously mentioned he wasn’t interested in Midwest winters any longer.  Furthermore, Brey’s son is a football coach at IMG Academy that isn’t far at all from USF.

It didn’t end how anyone wanted, but there’s no ill-will from anyone in South Bend to Brey.  All the best to him in this next chapter.

Source: Mike Brey to be hired as USF head coach

The former Irish coach appears to have new work lined up.

Mike Brey apparently didn’t have to wait long to pick up his next coaching gig. BullsInsider.com is reporting that the winningest coach in Notre Dame history is about to take the head coaching job at USF. No official announcement has been made, but all signs seem to be pointing in that direction.

This would be a perfect destination for Brey, who previously indicated that he would sell his home near South Bend and move to Florida once his final season with the Irish was over. As it turns out, he’ll be able to have his cake and eat it, too. He will try to revive a program that has had only one winning season in the past decade and no NCAA Tournament appearances since 2012.

This news would appear to indicate that any involvement Brey had with finding his successor in South Bend is over. Instead, his complete focus will be on a program that once was very familiar to him. The Irish went 10-1 against the Bulls from 2006 to 2013, when the programs were Big East rivals.

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Notre Dame guard JJ Starling transfers to Syracuse

There he goes.

The 2022-23 season was JJ Starling’s first for Notre Dame and also his last. One day after it was reported that the freshman was entering the transfer portal, a decision already is known. He told ESPN that he has committed to Syracuse, a longtime conference rival for the Irish.

Geographically, the move makes sense for Starling, who is from the Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville, New York. It is unknown how much new coach Adrian Autry played a factor, but at the very least, the Orange have a successor for Jim Boeheim. The Irish do not yet have a replacement for [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag], though they might be waiting to see when their candidates’ seasons are over.

This is a tremendous loss for the Irish, and not only because Starling would have been the top returning scorer (11.2 points a game) had he stayed in South Bend. He is the Irish’s top recruit since 2000 according to 247Sports. That they couldn’t hold onto the future NBA talent for his entire collegiate career can’t sit well with the program or its fans.

There doesn’t seem to be much ill will towards the Irish though. When asked to comment about Brey, Starling said the following:

“Coach Brey was a great coach and person. Even while going through tough times, he tried his best to make sure he was there for all of the players and continued to relay the message: ‘We only have each other.’ I wish him the best in whatever he decides to do.”

We wish Starling well, though not too well when the Orange and Irish face off next season.

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Pete Thamel lists four coaches who could fill Notre Dame opening

Would you like one of these coaches?

Since [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] announced his intention to leave Notre Dame in January, various names have floated as his replacement. Our own Nick Shepkowski made his own list of candidates in the immediate aftermath of Brey’s announcement. While it’s nice to keep all options open, it appears the list is starting to narrow down. At least that’s what ESPN’s Pete Thamel said he believes during the most recent episode of College GameDay:

For all we know, this list could be completely bogus with none of the four landing the job. But when you cover college basketball for a living, you’re bound to hear a few whispers about who the next coach might be. For argument’s sake, let’s pretend this list is legitimate and that the search indeed will come down to these four. Then, we can debate as to who would be the best candidate for the Irish for the long haul:

Opinion: Dark days ahead for Notre Dame men’s basketball

Don’t expect any winning for the Irish in the near future.

It’s no stretch to say this past season was the worst for Notre Dame in recent memory. Its 3-17 conference record was the worst in program history, and its 21 losses tied the 1965-66 Irish for the most in program history. The Irish’s 11 wins kept them far away from the program’s worst winning percentage, but that’s little consolation to the fans who had to watch this team.

With only [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] and [autotag]Paul Atkinson Jr.[/autotag] as key departures from last season’s team that won two NCAA Tournament games, the veteran core appeared perfectly positioned to at least duplicate that success. Instead, everything that could go wrong did, and [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s mantra of getting old and staying old proved nothing more than hot air. As a result, the Irish will be shut out on Selection Sunday for the fourth time in five tournaments.

But missing out on March Madness yet again isn’t the worst part. That distinction goes to the fact the Irish will be very inexperienced next season and probably beyond. With almost every rotation player having exhausted their NCAA eligibility this season, this was the season to make one more run. That goal came up woefully short. Now, the Irish will be reliant on younger players and guys who didn’t crack the departing Brey’s eight-man rotation.

[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag], [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag], [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] hardly seem like a core that will put much fear into anybody. It’s not like much known help is coming either with [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] the only one of three committed freshmen not to decommit from the Irish after Brey announced his departure. And who really expects [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] to step in as an impact player right away? Plus, if you’re counting on much help coming from the transfer portal, your optimism is admirable.

It’s hard to be envious of whoever takes over Brey’s job. That person will have to work with a group that has little collective game action, and that inexperience will show when those games are played. No one can look at next year’s Irish and convincingly say there is one trusted veteran leader. Starling hasn’t proven himself a leader despite having NBA aspirations, and if Zona is supposed to be one, well, the Irish will need all the luck they can get.

With a new core and a new coach, it will be some time before the Irish are worthy of attention again. No one likes to think of a program rebuilding, but that’s the reality. When a bunch of veterans lose and don’t leave much of a foundation behind, a lot more losing is in the future. The only hope is that Brey was sitting the players who could have made this past season a better one.

It goes without saying that the next Irish coach needs to be a strong recruiter because that’s the only way this program will return to respectability. There is nowhere to go but up after a season like this past one. Well, actually, the depths might sink further over the next year or two while the new group tries to figure things out. Either way, time to embrace the suck.

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College basketball coaching carousel: Major programs with openings across the landscape

Breaking down the current job openings across college basketball and who could be on their way to fill them.

The annual NCAA Tournament is just a few days away from ‘Selection Sunday’ but that isn’t the only action going on across the college basketball landscape.

We are seeing plenty of openings for major programs. One program that has already filled their vacancy are the Syracuse Orange. On the same day it was announced that Hall of Fame head coach Jim Boeheim would step down, the school announced that Adrian Autry would take over.

Another notable name could be returning to college basketball as LSU Wire reports that Will Wade is closing in on a deal with McNeese. He was fired by the Tigers after it was revealed that he was hit with five Level I violations.

Thus far we have seen a total of six major programs in college basketball with vacancies yet to be filled. College Sports Wire breaks each one down along with who is seen as the top candidate.

Legendary coach Jim Boeheim done at Syracuse after 47 seasons

Another coaching legend is out the door.

Jim Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division I basketball history, has coached his last game for Syracuse. Only a few hours after the Orange were eliminated by Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, the university announced that Boeheim’s 47th season at the helm was his final one. He will be succeeded by Orange assistant Adrian Autry, who played for Boeheim from 1990 to 1994.

Notre Dame’s first game against Boeheim’s Orange was a 65-62 loss Feb. 9, 1985 at Purcell Pavilion. Most recently, the Orange had a come-from-behind 78-73 victory Jan. 14 in Syracuse. Overall, the Irish went 16-31 in the rivalry during that time. The programs have battled every year as conference rivals since 1996 – first in the Big East with the Irish losing two of three meetings in that conference’s tournament, and then, in the ACC.

Fighting Irish Wire was lucky to be in South Bend for what turned out to be Boeheim’s final trip there. After his team’s 62-61 victory, we were able to sit in on his postgame news conference. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to snap a photo of the Hall of Famer, which is what you’re seeing at the top of this story.

Much like [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag], who coached his own final game for an ACC program he has become synonymous with less than 24 hours earlier, Boeheim will be missed, and we wish him well.

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