Brey Linked to UVA Opening?
ESPN’s Andy Katz reported on Tuesday that Mike Brey would be interested in the head coaching vacancy Virginia.
With expectations sky high for Notre Dame this year, the heat could be turning up on Brey this off-season. Brey has Notre Dame in the NIT Final 4 in year when the actual Final 4 was supposed to be a real possibility so his stock probably won’t be too high right now for openings, but with openings at Arizona and most likely Kentucky, there might not be many top tier coaches available for schools like Virginia to target.
Would an opening at a school like UVA interest Brey? On the surface, it would seem like to make sense. He’d move from the Big East which is by far the toughest conference in college basketball to the much weaker ACC where his style of coaching would be a good fit. With the $32 million rennovation to the Joyce Center and improved facilities coming at Notre Dame, would Brey really be interested in walking away after spending the last 9 years building the program up to where it is?
Complicating matters here is how much heat will really be on Brey this off-season? Notre Dame was not expected to be anywhere near the NIT this year. After last year’s tournament concluded, many felt that Notre Dame would be a 2 or 3 seed in this year’s tourney. Instead the Irish missed out on the Big Dance all together despite having a Player of the Year candidate in Luke Harangody and one of the best shooters in college basketball in Kyle McAlarney. Will this season’s implosion result in pressure from the admin on Brey? Or has he built up enough good will over his 9 seasons at Notre Dame to avoid that?
The last time Notre Dame was in the Final 4 of the NIT came in Matt Doherty’s only season in South Bend. Doherty bolted for North Carolina that off-season. Could a return trip to the NIT Final 4 result in Doherty’s replacement bolting for an opening as well?
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
After a poor showing in the NIT, has Brey left yet??
9 years of 3 point jump and shoot finesse is getting old, boring and predictable.
Forget about beating Kentucky again, their new 5 million dollar coach is now on board.
Might as well let Muffet take over the men’s squad too, clearly a superior coach.
Bleed,
As long as he dosen’t throw chairs and kick the players, we would need that in the contract. But, if you want man to man hard nose defense and shooting, his record speaks for it’s self.
That will be one Heinekin.
BoB Knight….well honestly he sucks as a analyst on ESPN but seems to be a pretty darn good coach. Bring back Bruce Pearl to Indiana. Id love to see ol’ Bruce at ND. (He coached at University of Southern Indiana and won a championship there)
Well now, this might explain why we are sticking with the senior starting line-up in the NIT.
But Frankie, who would we get?
Bobby Knight?