![]() So, even though his long, fantastic tenure as ND basketball coach ended with a whimper here in this 2022-2023 season that saw the Irish go 11-21 overall, 3-17 in ACC play, and one-and-done in the ACC Tournament, what Michael Paul Brey accomplished in his 23 seasons at the helm has been absolutely awesome, and there’s a pretty solid argument he’s the greatest ND men’s basketball coach in at least the modern era. That’s a tough combination of things to do well and to sustain for a long time. Lots of talent development, lots of identifying diamonds in the rough in recruiting, and plenty of unique/innovative strategies and systems are necessary. ![]() So, to find success in a job like that, someone really needs to be a special coach and approach running that program differently. In a sport where kids only need to stay for a year before being allowed to pursue professional aspirations, it’s really hard to convince top-flight talent to spend that one year attending a school like ND in South Bend, Indiana when they could go with a number of other options that come with being the kings of campus in a better geographical location at a program with the resources and talent to compete for a national championship way more regularly. It’s a really tough job in a sport that’s difficult to navigate for even some of the traditional, blue-blood power programs with unlimited resources and fewer academic restrictions, let alone Notre Dame, where that is decidedly not the case. ND is looking for a new head basketball coach right now, but you’ll find more online discussion and reporting and speculation and message-board-meltdown-ing about the recent offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and special teams coordinator job openings than you’ll find about whom Jack Swarbrick may have already started back-channeling with as the NCAA men’s hoops season ventures into March Madness. There’s no arguing that, and I think it’s safe to say that that hierarchy extends not just to the resources and leeway that football gets more of when compared to hoops, but also to how fans follow and feel about both programs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball has always been, and likely always will be, second fiddle to the football program.
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