'A great example of the coaching profession.' Mike Brey soaks in the rewards of his latest resurgence

He bounded up the stairs between Section 4 and 5 one last time, on a beeline to greet his fan club.

Mike Brey has made this short jog from the sideline to Notre Dame’s student section several times this year, the reward for sending another Purcell Pavilion visitor sulking to its charter bus. Each time, a swath of students encircles him and equals his exhilaration. None, though, could quite match the big-picture bliss from this final one of the year (Notre Dame is on spring break for the last home game March 5).

Students donned shirts with “Breyk down the thunder” emblazoned on the front, an outline of Brey amid it. For nearly two hours Saturday, they watched Brey’s team put together its most complete performance of the ACC slate and wallop Georgia Tech, 90-56. The win locked up a double bye in the ACC tournament for the Irish. It felt like an unofficial securing of an NCAA tournament bid. Brey, in response, took one final lap through the student section.

If that whole scene, his prior vow to crowdsurf up the student section (sadly, it will go unfulfilled) and Notre Dame’s 21-8 record didn’t already suggest it, the vibes here are positive.

And shouldn’t they be, especially in the big picture? After securing ACC victory No. 14 by dusting the Yellow Jackets, Notre Dame should be headed back to March Madness for the first time since 2017. With that reality came Brey’s willingness to dive into the four years following that bid and contrast their malaise to this season’s bliss.

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All it takes is a look back to last season’s penultimate home game, when a couple hundred socially distanced students were permitted in Purcell Pavilion for the first time all year and witnessed a lifeless 80-69 loss to a middling North Carolina State squad March 3. It sunk the Irish’s record to 9-14 and evoked some restlessness. A “Fire Brey” cry from a couple folks echoed through the building as the team left the floor. All he could do was offer his understanding.

“That was well-warranted by our students,” Brey said afterward. “That was a poor performance. They should’ve been on me.”

Well, how things can change in a year.

Notre Dame found its familiar winning ways from Brey’s first 18 years for myriad reasons, but it’s hard not to focus on what this means for the Irish’s leader after seeing Saturday’s postgame scene and listening to him discuss it. A beloved figure in the program and in his profession has regained that status with his fans.

“A great example of the coaching profession,” Brey said, loosely gesturing both hands inward. “You just hang in there, keep working and keep grinding.”

In overseeing Notre Dame’s U-turn from recent ACC afterthought to conference title contender, Brey has swatted away the idea his effectiveness had waned and his internal fire had been extinguished. He hasn’t lost his personable manner or his enthusiasm. Most of all, he never lost his resolve.

In his final press conference of the 2020-21 season, Brey compared his 22^nd season to his seventh. The goal in both was the same. Figure it out, get back to the NCAA tournament or invite serious job security questions. He had pulled it off before – twice, actually. Easier said than done a third time, though. The bruises add up at some point, right? Not for Brey, whose upbeat nature during last season’s swoon masked the festering disappointment. It turns out, pride encounters few deterrents.

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“I think we’re in an amazingly strong position,” Brey said. “We’ve missed it. I’ve missed it. Quite frankly, been miserable missing it. But I fake it good running into you guys [in the media].”

Brey felt the urgency when he revamped his staff. In came Anthony Solomon for his third stint as an assistant to tackle a porous defense. Former Irish guard Antoni Wyche returned as well and has put his own mark on the defense. Those tweaks meant Rod Balanis – who had been with Brey since his hiring in 2000 – went from associate head coach to a support staff role to taking a job at Howard.

There were tough decisions to make. Tough times call for them. They’re done with the hope they will be rewarded. That reward looks like Saturday’s scene. It sounds like Brey afterward.

“In our profession, you’re going to get put on the mat and going to get put up against it,” Brey said. “That was probably the third time I’ve been put on the mat in 22 years. I’ve had great support. People have had my back and hung with me. I felt if we could get it right with staff and get it right with how we came out in the summer, we could be really good.”

To regain fans’ and students’ faith, though, Notre Dame would need to show it. A staff overhaul, commitment to defensive improvement and a top-20 recruiting class were good signs Brey was serious about finding answers, but they aren’t wins on the court. And those didn’t come easily at first. A Dec. 3 loss at Boston College felt like a “here we go again” moment.

Instead, it was a turning point. Notre Dame is 18-4 since then and is still alive for the ACC regular-season title with a week to go. Internally, there’s an acknowledgement for what this all means and how it happened. This kind of resurgence is worth commending. It’s also fuel. In a season of firsts for the roster and been-a-while moments for the head coach, there’s no reason to stop adding them.

“We’ve never even been in this position before,” guard Prentiss Hubb said. “I really don’t even know how to feel. We’ve always been playing on that first night [of the ACC tournament]. We can’t get complacent and get too high on our horse.”