CBS Sports published a long story yesterday detailing with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, men's basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry and his wife, Molly, the process that led to Shrewsberry being hired at ND.
It's worth a read if you have the time, but I'll pull some of the highlights from Matt Norlander's reporting:
www.cbssports.com
Jan. 18: Brey decides he needs to step down
Jan. 19: Notre Dame announces the news.
ND reaches out to three "three shoot-for-the-moon candidates." Then builds a list of 80 candidates to weight against this criteria:
Mid-February: Shrewberry becomes the favorite following background calls to Matt Painter, Brad Stevens, Niele Ivey and others.
Meanwhile, Shrewsberry doesn't want to talk about it. "He's so one-track. He shuts it down," Molly said. "I, of course, am like, could this be a possibility? Notre Dame is amazing, going back home. He literally would be like, 'I'm trying to focus on my team and focus on the next game.' He would not engage me at all."
Feb. 21: The list gets cut down to 8 active head coaches with calls to agents to set-up Zoom conversations. Swarbrick intends to not have discussions with them again until their seasons end.
Feb. 27: Shrewsberry meets with Swarbrick via Zoom for 45 minutes.
March 14: Penn State offers Shrewsberry a restructured contract despite Shrewsberry's agent trying to get that done for months prior to that. "Had Penn State come in January with a contract extension, Shrewsberry is almost certainly still coaching there," Norlander wrote.
March 18: Penn State loses in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
March 20: With Penn State's offer of nearly $26 million for seven years in hand, Shrewsberry agrees to meet with Swarbrick and Notre Dame president the Rev. John Jenkins the next day at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Meanwhile, ND believes its No. 2 choice would be a yes if Shrewsberry turns it down. (My note: I'm not sure if that was Darian DeVries or Matt Langel, but likely one of them).
March 21: The official offer from ND comes in that night. He eventually accepts after consulting his children.
Two non-timeline things that I wanted to highlight as well ...
This ridiculous story that captures the difference between South Bend and State College:
In Happy Valley, the Shrewsberrys laid down a basketball court in their backyard shortly after moving there in 2021. A neighbor was a pest about it. She'd yell across the yard to Braden and his brother Nick, "You're not going to the NBA! Give it up already!" She'd complain about the noise in the middle of the afternoon. One night, Molly came home at 7:30 p.m. to discover two policemen in her driveway.
This neighbor had called the cops on the boys for playing basketball too loudly.
Hard to envision anything so absurd happening in basketball-obsessed Indiana.
"That sums it up," Molly said. "It's so different. Coming back here, it's a different culture and a different experience. When you follow your intuition, it's not that big of a decision."
This note about ND's 2024 recruiting efforts:
Back at the Peach Jam, Shrewsberry is eying one of the 20-plus 2025 prospects ND's staff is monitoring. The real chase is with 2024. He's already landed one commitment (shooting guard Cole Certa, a top-100 player and native of Bloomington) and has four other primary targets. Most coaches in his position would be spreading a wider net.
I consulted with @Charleston Bowles and our best, educated guess is that those four primary targets in the 2024 class are: PG Travis Perry, SG Sir Mohammed, PF Jackson McAndrew and PF Garrett Sundra.
It's worth a read if you have the time, but I'll pull some of the highlights from Matt Norlander's reporting:
Inside how Notre Dame hired Penn State's Micah Shrewsberry to succeed Mike Brey as Irish basketball coach
CBS Sports was given an exclusive behind-the-scenes look as Notre Dame went from 80 coaching candidates down to one
www.cbssports.com
Jan. 18: Brey decides he needs to step down
Jan. 19: Notre Dame announces the news.
ND reaches out to three "three shoot-for-the-moon candidates." Then builds a list of 80 candidates to weight against this criteria:
- Excellence on- and off-court at highly competitive academic institution
- Proven success (athletically and academically)
- Great recruiting prowess
- Proven commitment to student-athlete development
- Aspire to win titles
- Passion for Notre Dame and lean into what differentiates the school from most other high-majors
- Consider ND a true destination job
- Will win the right way and ethically
- A track record of being a leader of staff, someone with managerial temperament
- Committed to style of play
Mid-February: Shrewberry becomes the favorite following background calls to Matt Painter, Brad Stevens, Niele Ivey and others.
Meanwhile, Shrewsberry doesn't want to talk about it. "He's so one-track. He shuts it down," Molly said. "I, of course, am like, could this be a possibility? Notre Dame is amazing, going back home. He literally would be like, 'I'm trying to focus on my team and focus on the next game.' He would not engage me at all."
Feb. 21: The list gets cut down to 8 active head coaches with calls to agents to set-up Zoom conversations. Swarbrick intends to not have discussions with them again until their seasons end.
Feb. 27: Shrewsberry meets with Swarbrick via Zoom for 45 minutes.
March 14: Penn State offers Shrewsberry a restructured contract despite Shrewsberry's agent trying to get that done for months prior to that. "Had Penn State come in January with a contract extension, Shrewsberry is almost certainly still coaching there," Norlander wrote.
March 18: Penn State loses in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
March 20: With Penn State's offer of nearly $26 million for seven years in hand, Shrewsberry agrees to meet with Swarbrick and Notre Dame president the Rev. John Jenkins the next day at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Meanwhile, ND believes its No. 2 choice would be a yes if Shrewsberry turns it down. (My note: I'm not sure if that was Darian DeVries or Matt Langel, but likely one of them).
March 21: The official offer from ND comes in that night. He eventually accepts after consulting his children.
Two non-timeline things that I wanted to highlight as well ...
This ridiculous story that captures the difference between South Bend and State College:
In Happy Valley, the Shrewsberrys laid down a basketball court in their backyard shortly after moving there in 2021. A neighbor was a pest about it. She'd yell across the yard to Braden and his brother Nick, "You're not going to the NBA! Give it up already!" She'd complain about the noise in the middle of the afternoon. One night, Molly came home at 7:30 p.m. to discover two policemen in her driveway.
This neighbor had called the cops on the boys for playing basketball too loudly.
Hard to envision anything so absurd happening in basketball-obsessed Indiana.
"That sums it up," Molly said. "It's so different. Coming back here, it's a different culture and a different experience. When you follow your intuition, it's not that big of a decision."
This note about ND's 2024 recruiting efforts:
Back at the Peach Jam, Shrewsberry is eying one of the 20-plus 2025 prospects ND's staff is monitoring. The real chase is with 2024. He's already landed one commitment (shooting guard Cole Certa, a top-100 player and native of Bloomington) and has four other primary targets. Most coaches in his position would be spreading a wider net.
I consulted with @Charleston Bowles and our best, educated guess is that those four primary targets in the 2024 class are: PG Travis Perry, SG Sir Mohammed, PF Jackson McAndrew and PF Garrett Sundra.
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