Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2023 81 MEN'S BASKETBALL said. "What's going on? Is he coming back? Do they want him to come back? I just want our guys to try to focus and play. My thought was, why don't we give some clarification to this thing right now and see if it helps our group, and quite frankly, helps Notre Dame? That they can get into the process of getting into some advanced notice on the search. "I'm fully available and [athletics di- rector] Jack [Swarbrick] and I have talked about helping get the next person. I think that's a big responsibility for me to help hire the next 'right' coach here." But first, he had to grasp the idea that person was no longer him. "It was just an overall gut feel moving forward that I want to sprint like heck and finish this season, and then it was just time," Brey said. "You do have some fatigue at a place. I think it's fair to every- body involved to be upfront and let every- body know where we are and the timing of this. I think it helps on a lot of fronts." ADVICE FOR HIS REPLACEMENT Let's, for a moment, recall the last time Notre Dame looked for a men's basketball coach. Bob Davie was still in charge of the football team. The Joyce Center renovation had yet to begin and was eight years away from completion. The Irish's non-football sports were in the Big East. The popular basketball uniform style for men was baggy shorts with a leg opening wide enough to fit a 747. Apple's first iPod was another 15 months away from release. A lot has changed between Brey's July 2000 hiring and the announcement that he would step down at season's end, and not just five new occupants of the head football coach's office. NIL is an uncontrolled torrent. Im- mediate eligibility for transfers has re- shaped how teams build rosters. The three-point shot is no longer a niche skill. Notre Dame has a shiny practice facility that's not even four years old and plays in the ACC. Any intrepid dresser hoping to bring the mock turtleneck back to the Purcell Pavilion sideline probably won't find one. "I don't think they make them any- more," Brey said. "I think I killed that." In many ways, though, the job Brey is leaving is the same one he took. Notre Dame is in a conference with some of college basketball's titans. Its league affiliation lends itself to East Coast recruiting. It is, well, Notre Dame — where football consumes the oxygen and where athletics decisions are made within the school's mission. Those who battle it in defiance or out of stubborn- ness are on the Indiana Toll Road out of town sooner than expected. Notre Dame wants to win, of course. Change wouldn't be happening if it didn't. But head coaches have to meet the school halfway, or at least a third of the way. "That's a big, big part of it," Brey said. "Understanding what this place is all about and embracing it. And I firmly believe I think I've done that. I've loved it. I've been honored to be here, but the climate moving forward — I'm excited to talk about candidates at the right time about this — the climate moving forward within our mission, because it's different. It's different." This will not be a job where rosters are built with a game of transfer portal lot- tery each offseason. It won't be notorious for winning bidding wars. Notre Dame isn't a blue blood like Duke and North Carolina or a new power like Virginia, but it's still expected to compete with them. Until recent seasons, Brey found a way to compete with the ACC's behe- moths and the Big East's before that. His most successful models for roster building at Notre Dame don't have to leave with him. "We've really done it with guys that have high basketball IQ and skill level," Brey said. "We've kind of done it with guys that know how to play, older guys, guys who are going to stick around and grow with you. That's kind of been the M.O. I don't think that changes." It has, though, become harder to ex- ecute. The NIL era has turned recruiting into an even trickier landscape. The one- time exemption for transfers to play right away has made the portal a more popular source of talent acquisition and made long rebuilds a thing of the past. Being a college basketball coach has never been more demanding or stress- ful, no matter the program. It will chew up those who aren't constantly attack- ing it, which isn't an inaccurate de- scription of Brey's last few years. It's not a job for energy vampires. "The climate of college athletics and college basketball is certainly different with NIL and the transfer portal," Brey said. "And you have to be really ener- gized to manage that and attack that. I think that would be the first thing." Not that energy, work ethic and pas- sion weren't essential traits when Brey was hired, but if they're not all pres- ent in a candidate, forget it. The Notre Dame job is different than the one Brey took given the sport's complications, but also in the recent history. His suc- cessor isn't coming here to snap a 10- year NCAA Tournament drought. That person will be expected to win, because Brey did — a school-record 482 times and counting. ✦ 2022-23 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE & RESULTS Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 10 Radford W, 79-76 Nov. 13 Youngstown State W, 88-81 Nov. 16 Southern Indiana^ W, 82-70 Nov. 18 Lipscomb W, 66-65 Nov. 22 Bowling Green^ W, 82-66 Nov. 25 St. Bonaventure& L, 63-51 Nov. 30 Michigan State% W, 70-52 Dec. 3 Syracuse* L, 62-61 Dec. 7 Boston University W, 81-75 Dec. 11 Marquette L, 79-64 Dec. 18 vs. Georgia+ L, 77-62 Dec. 21 at Florida State* L, 73-72 Dec. 27 Jacksonville W, 59-43 Dec. 30 Miami* L, 76-65 Jan. 3 at Boston College* L, 70-63 Jan. 7 at North Carolina* L, 81-64 Jan. 10 Georgia Tech* W, 73-72 (OT) Jan. 14 at Syracuse* L, 78-73 Jan. 17 Florida State* L, 84-71 Jan. 21 Boston College* L, 84-72 Jan. 24 at NC State* L, 85-82 Jan. 28 Louisville* W, 76-62 Feb. 4 Wake Forest* L, 81-64 Feb. 8 at Georgia Tech* (RSN) 7 p.m. Feb. 11 Virginia Tech* (RSN) 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at Duke* (ESPN/2) 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at Virginia* (ESPN/2/U) 12 p.m. Feb. 22 North Carolina* (ESPN/2) 9 p.m. Feb. 25 at Wake Forest* (ACCN) 7 p.m. March 1 Pittsburgh* (ESPN/2/U) 7 p.m. M arch 4 at Clemson* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Mar. 7-11 ACC Tournament TBD ^ Gotham Classic at South Bend. & Gotham Classic in UBS Arena at Belmont Park, N.Y.; % ACC/Big Ten Challenge; * ACC game; + at State Farm Arena in Atlanta; $ at Greensboro, N.C.