When looking at how a college basketball program can improve there are a few outlets in which the public looks, assistant coaches typically aren't one of them. However, for Mike Brey and Notre Dame Men's basketball hiring an assistant may be their most important decision of the offseason. A few weeks ago in an interview with Tim O' Malley of Irish Illustrated, Brey alluded to shaking up his staff with the addition of a new assistant coach who is defensively minded.
The new assistant will likely take the role of Scott Martin, who was promoted abruptly after former assistant Ryan Ayers parted ways with the program. Martin will likely go back to his old role as the development and recruiting coordinator where he will help to "support the program’s recruiting strategy, aide in the day-to-day operations of the team and provide team-specific video support."
Under the former Notre Dame team MVP, each starting guard flashed their offensive ability and put up multiple explosive scoring performances. However, on the other end they weren't quite as successful. The Irish had one of the largest gaps in the nation when it came to their offensive vs defensive efficiency rating in the Kenpom database.
To have a real shot at a tournament birth Brey has to find a fix. It's easy to say "just recruit better defenders" but the problem is that he has... since losing arguably his two best perimeter defenders in TJ Gibbs and Rex Pflueger, Brey and the staff have added multiple capable defenders on the perimeter in Tony Sanders JR, Trey Wertz, JR Konieczny, Cormac Ryan, and Blake Wesley. Most of these young guards have tremendous upside on the defensive end that is still untapped. When looking at the group of guards Notre Dame has, there aren't a whole lot of guys who stand out as bad defenders, but as a unit, opposing guards have had their way with them no matter what defense they came out in.
Here's where the coaching comes in, this is a fixable issue. In the midst of their best stretch of the season, Brey got the team to lock in defensively through practice which finally carried over to the games, the Irish saw their defensive metrics skyrocket. After that short stretch, though, the Irish were back to square one. IF Brey finds the right assistant who can get their guys to stay in a stance and make fundamental changes the Irish have a chance to be a much better defensive unit which will allow them to take the step that they haven't made for the last few years.
The new assistant will also need to be able to develop players on the offensive end, under former assistant Ryan Ayers, the Irish guards couldn't do much of anything against athletic wings which was part of the reason they couldn't land in the tournament. Luckily in the first few years of the assistant being on campus, the will have older guards on the roster who won't need as much development. However, there will likely come a time where the assistant will have to develop the guards that they recruited and that will be the real test.
Getting this hire right is much more than just teaching on court fundamentals. Throughout the 2020-21 season Brey put an emphasis on toughness, the veteran coach wanted his guys to really get after it, he wanted them to be able to roll with the big punches, the big runs and everything that came with the pandemic ridden college basketball season. Adding the right coach could help to develop a culture of toughness that the Irish have needed throughout their struggles.
The other important aspect of this offseason for the Irish is landing a big class in 2022. The Notre Dame staff has been involved with La Lumiere guard JJ Starling. Replacing a class like Notre Dame had in 2018 is tough with the lack of on court production, the new assistant will need to be a be a top tier recruiter to start landing some of the nation's top players that the Irish have been missing out on for years. Brey will need to add someone who will appeal to recruits while also instilling a toughness into players on campus.
When Mike Brey adds his a new assistant to his staff it will be a move that goes largely unnoticed, however if he doesn't get that hire right things could look very similar for Notre Dame as they did last year.
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