Sources: Next up for former Notre Dame men's basketball coach Mike Brey? NBA's Atlanta Hawks
Tom Noie
Let’s see how Door No. 3 works for former Notre Dame coach Mike Brey.
Since finishing his 23rd and final season on the sideline with the Irish in early March, the program’s all-time winningest coach has weighed what his next career move in life after Notre Dame.
At first, the 64-year-old Brey seemed to want to jump right back into coaching, and traveled far down the head coach hiring road at the University of South Florida. When that didn’t work out, Brey figured that he might take a year off and maybe get into television.
Put that plan also on the back burner. Up next apparently is a move to the NBA as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks.
More:One more night of magic for Notre Dame and Mike Brey at Purcell Pavilion
Multiple sources close to the Notre Dame program have told the Tribune that Brey will join coach Quin Snyder’s staff with the Hawks for the 2023-24 season. While an assistant at Duke, Brey coached Snyder, who played four seasons for the Blue Devils. Snyder joined coach Mike Krzyzewski’s staff in 1995, the same year Brey left Duke to become a head coach at Delaware.
The two have remained close. Brey spent a few days toward the end of the regular season in Atlanta attending/scouting Hawks games. Snyder was hired in late February to replace Nate McMillian.
Brey went 483-280 overall and a combined 225-181 in the Atlantic Coast and Big East conferences over his 23 years at Notre Dame.
On Monday morning, during an appearance on Dan Dakich’s Don’t @ me podcast, Brey said he watched all eight first-round NBA playoff games over the weekend. It’s the most time that he can remember watching the NBA, something he just didn’t have time to do at this point in the calendar as a college coach.
“That does intrigue me,” Brey told Dakich about the NBA during his 25-minute appearance.
Atlanta went 41-41 and finished in second place in the Southeast Division during the regular season and is currently the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta trails No. 2 seed Boston 0-1 in a first-round best-of-seven series.
Brey announced on Jan. 20 that he would step away from Notre Dame after this season. On March 24, Notre Dame announced the hiring of former Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry as his successor.
“I’m really excited for the program to have Micah,” Brey told Dakich. “What a great hire.”
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.