Mike Brey took Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament last season. This year, it will be his last at Notre Dame
SOUTH BEND — An era for one of the good guys in college basketball soon will end.
The Jan. 17 home loss to Florida State may have unofficially marked the beginning of the end for Brey. Florida State scored the first 10 points. Nine minutes in, Notre Dame trailed 32-8. It again trailed by 24 points in the second half. Afterward, when fingers required pointing, Brey directed one at himself. It wasn’t the first time, but may have been the last.
When this all went sideways, not even Brey could say for sure. Those closest to him started seeing signs that the end was near as early as the close of the 2020-21 season, which finished without a trip to the all-important NCAA tournament. That year was impacted by a global pandemic, one where no college coach knew if he would work with his team for one week, for one month or for one year.
Prior to those seasons, anytime Brey needed to zag in a particular season, he was able to push the right buttons. The buttons Brey tried those seasons, nothing seemed to work. That was difficult for him to digest. The ability to reach his players had faded. “For over two decades Mike Brey’s program has maintained the highest integrity, graduated its student athletes and achieved tremendous success on the court,” Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame said in a university statement. “Despite the many pressures of his sport, he remained at heart a teacher of young men, helping them play at the highest level while growing into adults and preparing for success beyond basketball.
He did it with class. He did it with care for the student-athlete. He did it through a landmine of issues that would’ve torpedoed other coaches with other-sized egos. Being the coach of Notre Dame men’s basketball is hard. Brey so often made it look easy.Brey often operated without ego in a profession filled with them. He knew that football came first and often second and third and fourth at Notre Dame. It rarely mattered to him, even though at times, it ate at him.
Two years, White promised Brey. Give him two years and there’s be a plan in place. It took eight more for that plan to come to fruition. It took nearly a decade longer to finally get a dedicated practice facility. Brey didn’t much care. He coached. He coached in a basement facility — The Pit — fitting for a junior high school team. He found work-arounds in summers when his guys had no gym to call their own. He established an identity in the Big East. He won games. He went to the NCAA tournament.
The Irish lost at home. They lost on the road. They lost to bad teams, average teams, good teams. Everything this season was expected to be, it wasn’t. As the losses mounted, Brey had the look of someone who was about out of options. And moves. He tried that. It didn’t work. He tried this. It didn’t work.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey to Step Away After SeasonNotre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey will step away from his position effective at the end of the season
Leer más »
Mike Brey to Step Down as Notre Dame Coach at Season's EndNotre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey will step down at the end of the 2022-23 season, the school announced in a press release Thursday.
Leer más »
Mike Brey decides that 23 seasons at Notre Dame is enough, will leave at end of yearThe winningest coach in program history, the guy who took a program going nowhere and took it somewhere — in two different conferences — has decided that this season will be his last.
Leer más »
Harvard-Westlake boys basketball edges Notre Dame in Mission League, double-overtime thrillerHarvard-Westlake and Notre Dame was a game everyone in the Valley was waiting for, and it delivered. It even took two more periods to determine a winner.
Leer más »
A year after uncertainty, Jerry Jones sings praises for Cowboys coach Mike McCarthyFRISCO -- One year ago, Jerry Jones left his head coach to twist in the wind after San Francisco beat his team to advance to the divisional round. Now, that...
Leer más »