Mike Brey will recruit JJ Starling, Ven-Allen Lubin to stay with new coach

Longtime Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey announced earlier this season that he will be retiring at the end of the season. Now, he is working to recruit a couple of key players to stay with the next coach.

In the era of the transfer portal, this type of coaching turnover can lead to an exodus of players seeking a coach of their choice. Brey doesn’t want this to happen at Notre Dame, though. So, he’s working to re-recruit key freshmen JJ Starling and Ven-Allen Lubin.

“Absolutely. One of the things I’ve talked to our younger players about and the three young men that we’ve signed is don’t knee jerk,” Mike Brey said.

“I’ve been in this a long time. Give us a chance. You know, one of the big reasons the underclassmen and the recruiting class, one of the reasons was you love Notre Dame, and the education, and a lot of those things. So, you know, while everyone will pull at those guys, and I get it, and you know just don’t knee jerk and let us finish the semester academically, finish the season with this staff as we work with you to work and help you get better, and meet the new guy.”

Mike Brey has previously said that he wants to help pick his successor. As someone who has been at Notre Dame since 2000 and has the most wins of any coach in Notre Dame history, even ahead of the legendary Digger Phelps, he cares about making sure the program is set up for the future.

“I think that’s always a good thing and back in the day, you remember, you were able to hold onto a kid by not giving him his release. You could play games with them a little bit. That certainly is clearly a 180 now brother. They can roll at any time, but ADs used to sit on the release and say I’ll give you a release but you got to meet the new coach first.”

Jay Bilas’ heartfelt message to Mike Brey

After the news of his retirement broke, former Duke Blue Devil and current analyst Jay Bilas penned a heartfelt message to Mike Brey. It was at Duke where the two actually worked with one another.

“Mike Brey is one of the true good guys in the game. We worked together for three years as assistants at Duke, and I spent countless hours in his office, learning from him. He is a great friend and mentor, and a fabulous coach and leader. Congrats Mike, and THANK YOU,” Balis tweeted.