Notre Dame basketball: Micah Shrewsberry to join Fighting Irish

Notre Dame basketball has found its replacement for Mike Brey. The Fighting Irish are reportedly hiring Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry to be their next bench boss.

Shrewsberry was a hot name on the head coaching carousel after he led Penn State to its first NCAA tournament win since 2001 and first appearance since 2011. The Nittany Lions also reached the championship game of the Big Ten tournament, narrowly losing to Purdue.

This is Shrewsberry's second head coaching gig at the Division I level. He was named Penn State's head coach in March 2021. Prior to leading his own program, Shrewsberry was an assistant at Purdue following six seasons as an assistant under Brad Stevens with the Boston Celtics.

Notre Dame was searching for a new head coach for the first time since 2000. Brey took over the program at the start of the century and led the Fighting Irish to 13 NCAA tournament appearances, winning 15 tournament games in the process.

Brey leaves as the winningest head coach in Notre Dame men's basketball history, collecting 483 victories in his 23 seasons in charge. He had 19 winning seasons in that span.

The departing of Micah Shrewsberry will be a tough pill to swallow for Penn State fans. There were reports that Penn State was prepared to offer Shrewsberry a lucrative, long-term contract to remain the program's head coach.

Instead, Shrewsberry decided to take his coaching talents to the ACC and Notre Dame, where he will again look to turn around a program and lead the Fighting Irish back to the NCAA tournament.