He's 63-years-old, has never played or coached in a high-academic environment, and I think he's a jerk.
I don't get a vote, obviously - so I vote NO.
247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Mike-Brey-Era-Coming-to-a-Crashing-Conclusion-203186416/Mike Brey Era Coming to a Crashing Conclusion
ByTIM PRISTER Jan 18, 8:20 AM
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A local TV station captured his emotions as the team gathered for its post-game ritual of singing the school’s alma mater, locked arm-in-arm, gently swaying back and forth in front of the Notre Dame student body.
A disconsolate Mike Brey -- mind racing, thinking about what he would say to his team in the locker room, followed by a brief visit with the media, contemplating his past, present and future – realizes his 23-year run as head coach at Notre Dame is coming to an end.
Brey appeared to be fighting back tears following Notre Dame’s 84-71 loss to Florida State.
“When the first play of the game is a rip baseline layup and then a dunk in transition against us, the tone is set,” said an emotional and introspective Mike Brey. “We just set the tone with that.
“I misread us. I really thought we’d be ready to chest a little more. I’m really disappointed that we couldn’t put our chest on people early so (Florida State) wouldn’t be as confident.”
Prodded by the two most veteran reporters in the room, Brey went from expressing disappointment in his well-seasoned basketball team to eventually shining the beacon of blame on himself.
“I told them, ‘I really misread you. I thought from practice, we’d be really digging in and hungry and (have) a little more fight to us,’” Brey said. “The start just killed us.
“I certainly haven’t been able to help them. I just told them, ‘I’ve done a horrible job with you, fellas. I misread you. I thought we’d be more ready to compete.’
“That’s the boss’ responsibility. Totally accountable. Totally accountable.”
Brey admitted that he has run out of messages to his team.
“You do run out of stuff (to say),” Brey said. “This is a group that’s played a lot of basketball. If it was all freshmen…but it’s some old dudes.”
Then he stated what anyone who has followed the Notre Dame basketball program has known for years. Brey has coddled his players, particularly this group of mostly soft-spoken individuals.
“I told them, ‘You know what fellas? I love you like Kyle Brey (his son). But I think I’ve spoiled you like I’ve done Kyle Brey at times.’
“I’m probably too nice and too, ‘How’s your psyche? How’s your head? Be positive!’
“You know how Coach Mike does it. ‘Hey, rah rah!’”
As Brey exited the interview room, he had one last burst of emotion left in him.
“God, I spoil everybody!” said Brey as he began to walk toward the door. “I spoil everybody! People that work with me. Everybody is spoiled!
“Thanks, guys,” said Brey to the media and he walked through the door. “Thanks for letting me rant.”
It will be his last public rant as Notre Dame’s head coach.
Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick is unlikely to pull the plug on Brey’s tenure with a dozen regular-season games to go. It has no real benefits, although it literally can’t get much worse.
The only member of the coaching staff in any position to take over the team for the balance of the season is Anthony Solomon, the veteran assistant basketball coach with a 24-88 head-coaching record during a four-year stint at St. Bonaventure in the early-to-mid 2000s.
While Solomon’s basketball acumen certainly is respected, his voice wouldn’t resonate with the players any more than Brey’s, even in Brey’s lame duck status. Solomon might, however, put out a more conventional lineup that could rebound and rely less on a court full of three-point shooters. But at this stage, the results likely would be the same.
Fellow assistants Antoni Wyche and Hamlet Tibbs -- the former Irish player in his second year at his alma mater and the soft-spoken first-year assistant -- are in no position to take the reins of the program.
No, this is the last lap of the Brey era and it’s likely to run its course unless Brey – and this seems unlikely as well – would just pull the plug on his time at Notre Dame. Self-aware or not, which he is, that would be an ignominious way to exit from a good-to-very-good-at-times run with the Irish.
THE DECLINE
And yet the agony that has come from this season and several recent failed seasons is – beyond question – Brey’s own creation. After back-to-back Elite Eight runs in 2014-15 and 2015-16, it has been a steady decline.
This will mark the fifth time in the last seven seasons the Irish will not make the NCAA tournament, including the COVID season in which Notre Dame would have been excluded from the Big Dance.
The cause of the decline has been – first and foremost – extremely poor roster management, even with the landing of five-star athletes/talent such as Blake Wesley and JJ Starling and a very promising Ven-Allen Lubin, who can’t get consistent minutes despite being the lone rebounding presence on a poor rebounding team.
The 2018 class of Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Robby Carmody and Chris Doherty was supposed to be the foundation post-Elite Eights. Yet in six seasons, the Irish will have made one NCAA tournament.
Brey’s aversion to dogged recruiting as well as hiring assistant coaches with proven recruiting prowess eventually caught up to him. He captured lightning in a bottle with standouts Pat Connaughton, Jerian Grant, Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, Bonzie Colson, Steve Vasturia et al during the Elite Eight runs. But the inconsistent efforts on the recruiting trail and with a roster always short a body or three eventually caught up to him.
The game-day approach offensively through the years had generally been good-to-great. Notre Dame’s free-flowing offense was a thing of beauty in its hay day. A battery of sharpshooters with enough frontline talent to remain competitive worked.
But Brey’s teams became progressively worse on the backboards while the defensive slide has been just as precipitous. Brey brought Solomon back for a third Notre Dame stint to tend to the defensive end of the court, which paid dividends in 2021-22 en route to a No. 2 finish in the ACC. Again, however, the poor roster management has left the Irish short in numbers, athleticism and physicality.
So when Wesley and big man Paul Atkinson Jr. walked out the door after last season, the Irish were left lacking in athleticism, on the backboards and low-post options. Additionally, for as maddening as point guard Prentiss Hubb could be with his wild shots and questionable decision-making, at least the Irish had a ringleader handling the basketball, playing tough and making sure the flow of the offense was smooth.
Now the Irish can’t even count on the tried-and-true, bread-and-butter free-flowing offense.
THE END GAME
When Brey questioned his team’s toughness Tuesday night, it wasn’t the first time this season. He’s not wrong in his assessment. It’s not a very tough basketball team.
But it is the basketball team that he recruited and it is a basketball team whose frontline players have been run into the ground against more athletic, more rugged competition.
Laszewski, Goodwin and Stanford transfer Cormac Ryan – none of them physically-equipped to carry the burden of logging heavy minutes night after night after night – have been run ragged with Brey’s penchant for playing six and seven players without additional development to tap into the balance of the skimpy roster.
A half-dozen roster spots are occupied by sparse- or non-contributors. Trey Wertz, for the most part, has had to be coerced into playing tough basketball. Wertz has done the best with what he has. Only Ryan is considered a real firebrand.
Recent weeks have shown to the local media who deal with Brey on a regular basis a beaten down basketball coach. He knows the end is near, but he didn’t expect 1-7 in the league, down by 24 points to a flailing Florida State team that showed way more emotion from its sideline from the introduction of the players through the final buzzer.
This program, this team and this coaching staff has run its course.
For those who have come to know and appreciate the man sitting in the captain’s chair for the last 23 years, it’s painful to watch up close. He’s been a good basketball coach with a big heart and a caring soul. He is selfless to all he encounters, selfless to a fault.
Beyond the X’s and O’s and the 40-minute scraps on the hardwood, Mike Brey is a prince of a guy who has endeared himself to those who have gotten to know the man behind the turtlenecks and various wardrobe adjustments along the way.
He doesn’t look healthy. For those who know what it’s like to feel unhealthy, one can spot it from a mile away. He’s fought the good fight and has represented Notre Dame well.
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COMMENTS
But it’s time for Brey to do what’s best for his physical and mental well-being and for Notre Dame to turn the page, which preferably is at the conclusion of the season unless the Notre Dame brass feels it’s better just to pull the plug and ride out the repercussions of a rudderless ship, which offers few merits.
It’s time to close the Brey era at Notre Dame. There is no doubt. It is beyond question. All that’s left is the timing of closure.