Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2023 19 times they talk about strategies or games they just played. Other times, it's player development or non-bas- ketball topics. "He's there for you," Shrewsberry said. "Brad texts after the losses. No- body texts you when you get beat." Recently, the topic turned to job advice. Penn State bowed out of the NCAA Tournament March 19 with a loss to Texas in the second round. Notre Dame already had Shrewsberry atop its wish list of Mike Brey re- placements. Swarbrick ramped up the pursuit after the season ended. The job appealed to Shrewsberry because it would take him home to Indiana. He felt the school fit him. But he wanted to hear voices other than his own. He called Stevens, who echoed his thoughts. "We're both Division III guys," Shrewsberry said. "That's probably part of my attraction for who I re- cruit, what kind of schools I want to work at. I know the value of educa- tion, I know what it can do for you. But you can also have a lot of success playing basketball at the same time. "You probably can't be good at three things — something has to take a back seat. But you can be really good at those two things if you want to be. That's why this was so attractive. Brad felt the same way. He probably already has a bag full of Notre Dame stuff sit- ting in his living room right now." Shrewsberry left Stevens' Celtics staff to steer closer to a head coach- ing job in college, where his heart and his head were guiding him all along. An NBA stint with Stevens served its purpose. He parachuted back to college basketball six years older and smarter. He wanted a launching point. He found it with a familiar face. Purdue head coach Matt Painter first hired Shrewsberry off Stevens' Butler staff in 2011, giving him his first taste of high-major basketball. He brought Shrewsberry back in 2019, aligned on helping him achieve his head coaching dreams. "He could have done that in the NBA, but could he have gotten the opportunity?" Painter told Big Ten Network. "That was our whole game plan when he left the Celtics to come back — to help us at Purdue, but also help him become a head coach." That meant Shrewsberry continu- ing to learn, but also Painter giving him leeway and more responsibility — perhaps before he was fully ready. There were successes. There were flops. Painter was there to help him understand why something worked or why it didn't. "He let me experiment and do things," Shrewsberry said. "He let me bring ideas. He was so comfortable that it was OK. There were things that maybe didn't work or we failed, that I messed up. He took all the heat for that. But he was trying to con- tinue to push his program forward. I thank him so much for that." Those two years with Painter helped push Shrewsberry to the top of Penn State's list in 2021. The Nit- tany Lions hired him, therein turning Painter from colleague and confidant to competitor. That was irrelevant to Painter, though, whose investment in Shrewsberry's success didn't stop when he headed east. "We were in the same league, and I'd call him all the time," Shrewsberry said. "I called him once a week, once ev- ery two weeks, and we're talking about different things. Nobody does that in league. That's just the kind of person he is and the relationship we have." Notre Dame is a new stop with its own set of challenges. New players. New campus. New school culture. It's also a rebuild of a team that went 11-21 overall and had four return- ing scholarship players on the day Shrewsberry was hired. There will surely be more bumpy days than better ones early on. But he knows he has two mentors to call if he needs advice for navigating them. "Those two guys," Shrewsberry said, "are on speed dial for me." ✦ MIKE BREY TO TAKE TIME OFF COACHING Mike Brey was in the running for a job that would have taken him from The Bend to the beach. The former Notre Dame men's basketball head coach interviewed for the same role at South Florida in mid-March. It did not, though, materialize into his next stop. South Florida did not offer Brey the job in the days following the interview, he told ESPN's Pete Thamel March 21. Per Thamel, he will take some time off and pursue television. If that intent holds, it will end a streak of 28 seasons as a Division I head coach, with 23 of those coming at Notre Dame. His Irish tenure ended March 7 with a 483- 280 record and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. The final brought the highest loss total of his ca- reer. Notre Dame went 11-21 overall and 3-17 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A March 20 report from BullsInsider, a South Florida fan site, stated that the school was ex- pected to hire Brey. Shortly after, several national and local reports refuted that an agreement had been reached. South Florida athletics director Mi- chael Kelly told Thamel there had been discussions and an interview, but no offer. The Bulls hired Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim March 29. Brey and Notre Dame announced Jan. 19 that he would step aside at the end of the season, which arrived with a first-round loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament. Back then, he didn't foresee a return to the sidelines elsewhere in 2023-24. "I wouldn't rule out being around young people and teaching and coaching again," Brey said Jan. 20. "I don't think I want to jump back into that next year. But take some time to think about it." The South Florida job, though, offered personal life appeal in addition to a chance to continue coaching. It would have put him near his son, Kyle, and his grandchildren. Kyle coaches football at IMG Academy in nearby Bradenton. The job opened March 10 when South Florida parted ways with six-year head coach Brian Gregory, who went 79- 107 overall and 33-72 in the American Athletic Conference. If he got the job, Brey would have taken over a former Big East foe from his earlier Notre Dame days that has operated off the national radar for most of its history and the entire last decade. The Bulls have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2012 and have just three appearances since they began playing Division I in 1973. Their lone win- ning season in the 11 years since then was a 24-14 record in 2018-19. They have not finished .500 or better in 10 seasons in the American Athletic Conference. South Florida was a Big East member from 2005- 13 and joined the AAC when the old Big East's Cath- olic schools split and kept the name. Brey had a 10-1 career record against the Bulls at Notre Dame. Brey also was reportedly a candidate at George- town in the earlier stages of that search. The Hoyas ultimately hired Ed Cooley from Providence. — Patrick Engel "This place is special, and you get a chance to do special things at a place that loves basketball." SHREWSBERRY ON RETURNING TO HIS HOME STATE OF INDIANA