May 3, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey has signed a two-year contract extension to continue as coach of the Fighting Irish men’s basketball program through the 2012-13 campaign.
Brey, who recently completed his seventh season along the Irish sidelines, previously signed a two-year extension in the fall of 2004. He was named the 2007 BIG EAST Conference coach of the year after engineering one of the most stirring turnarounds in college basketball this past season — as his Irish squad finished with a 24-8 record (equaling the most wins during the Brey era) and made its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in seven seasons. It also marked the fourth time during Brey’s tenure that his teams have registered 20-plus victories.
“Mike has our program on the rise, as evidenced by the tremendously exciting season that recently concluded with a bid to the NCAA Tournament,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “He has led our team with consistency and class for the past seven years, and represented well the values and ideals of Notre Dame athletics. I look forward to still more success in the future.”
Added Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White:
“Mike is a highly gifted and talented leader, who has a great sense of what it takes to be extremely competitive within the BIG EAST Conference, as well as nationally. His recent selection by his peers, as the BIG EAST coach of the year, speaks volumes. Coach Brey has our program moving solidly in the right direction, on all fronts. For this and more, I couldn’t be more excited about the future of Irish basketball.”
Picked 11th in the BIG EAST coaches’ preseason poll after finishing with a 16-14 record and 6-10 mark in league play in 2005-06, Notre Dame ended the regular season with an 11-5 record and earned a first-round bye in the BIG EAST Championship. The 11 conference wins matched the most in school history. The Irish also advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for just the second time in school history.
Notre Dame’s 23 regular-season victories this past year were the most for an Irish team under Brey and the most since the 1985-86 campaign. In BIG EAST play, his squads have registered 10-plus wins on four occasions and he has led his teams to six winning seasons.
The Irish closed out the year with a perfect 18-0 record at the Joyce Center and were the only BIG EAST team to end the year undefeated at home. Notre Dame’s unblemished record at home marked the third time since the opening of the Joyce Center in 1968-69 that an Irish team finished the year unbeaten at home, while the 18 homecourt wins were a single-season best. Dating back to the ’05-’06 season, Notre Dame owns a 20-game home win streak (currently tied for sixth among Division I schools).
In seven seasons with the Irish, Brey has compiled a 142-78 record for a .645 winning percentage. A 20-year veteran of the college ranks as both an assistant at Duke (1987-95) and head coach at Delaware, he has led the Irish teams to seven consecutive postseason appearances (four NCAA, three National Invitation Tournament). Notre Dame earned NCAA tournament berths in Brey’s first three seasons, advancing to the second round in both 2001 and ’02 and then to the Sweet 16 in 2003. That ’03 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance marked the first by an Irish team since 1987.
Brey is the only coach in the program’s 102-year history to lead his first three teams to consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament berths. In 12 seasons as a head coach, he has registered a 241-130 mark, good for a .650 winning percentage. Six of his nine teams have advanced to NCAA tournament competition and 10 have earned postseason berths overall (four NIT).
Brey has been instrumental in Notre Dame’s success in the BIG EAST over the past seven years. Since his arrival, his Irish teams have recorded a 66-46 (.589) regular-season record in league play. Prior to him becoming head coach, Notre Dame teams had a 39-53 (.398) mark in regular-season conference games.
Brey was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 10 Coach of the Year in 2003 after guiding Notre Dame to its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 16 years. The Irish finished with a 24-10 overall mark and were 10-6 in league play that season. In addition, Brey’s squad defeated a school-record five top-10 opponents, the most by any Division I school during the ’02-’03 season.
Under Brey, Notre Dame has produced two first-round NBA draft picks — Troy Murphy in ’01 and Ryan Humphrey in ’02, while two others, Matt Carroll (’03) and Chris Quinn (’06), are currently on NBA rosters. He has had six of his players earn first-team all-conference honors in his seven seasons. This past season Notre Dame had four players earn all-conference accolades — with seniors Russell Carter and Colin Falls earning first-team all-conference and freshmen Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson being named to the league’s all-rookie team.
A Rockville, Md., native and 1982 graduate of George Washington University, Brey played and coached at DeMatha (Md.) High School under legendary mentor Morgan Wootten. Following a five-year assistant coaching stint at DeMatha, Brey spent eight seasons as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, helping lead the Blue Devils to six NCAA Final Fours and two national championships (’91 and ’92) during that period.
Brey’s first head coaching stint was at Delaware where he compiled a 99-52 record during his five seasons at the Newark, Del., school and helped his teams to two NCAA tournament appearances (’98 and ’99) as well as regular-season and tournament titles in those same seasons.