Quick-hitters: Micah Shrewsberry introductory press conference

Micah Shrewsberry’s first head-coaching job was in the shadow of Notre Dame. In 2005, NAIA program IU-South Bend hired him as its first full-time head coach. He was 30, still on the lowest rungs of the coaching ladder focused on just the next step ahead. But his commute tempted him to think big.

“I’d always drive by this going home and dreamed about what it would be like to coach here,” Shrewsberry said. “Now in 2023, I’m getting that opportunity. Believing in yourself and in your dreams, that has really come true.”

Notre Dame hired Shrewsberry, now 46, on March 22 and formally introduced him Thursday. The 16 years between leaving IU-South Bend in 2007 and coming to Notre Dame included assistant stops at Butler, Purdue (twice) and the Boston Celtics. He was the head coach at Penn State the past two seasons. He’s now in charge of the Irish.

Shrewsberry spoke for more than 30 minutes Thursday. Here are some highlights.

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On coaching in his home state

“I’m an Indiana kid. Grew up in Jeffersonville, moved to Indianapolis. Grew up there, went to high school there. From St. Matthew School to Cathedral High School, I probably didn’t have a chance but to love Notre Dame. The amount of classmates that went to school here, we had the gold helmets at our high school, the Irish mascot (at Cathedral). It was destiny for me to be there. I really believe that.”

On what stands out to him about Notre Dame

“I start to look at the pillars. The No. 1 thing that stood out to me was excellence – as you walk around campus, as you go through this campus, no matter who it is. Whether it’s people working at the Morris Inn or someone cleaning the Joyce Center for this press conference.

“Whether it’s watching Marcus (Freeman) and his team practice the other day. Whether it’s watching Niele (Ivey’s) team on TV. Whether you see students with backpacks on going across campus to class, you see people pursuing excellence. That’s what we want to do and what we want to be about. That’s what we are going to do here.

“I want this. I’m a college basketball guy. I love college basketball, because you get to be around people pursuing excellence. My sons were lucky to be around the Boston Celtics in their formative years. they saw what it took for Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford to be at the top of their careers and what it took to be there.

“Now my daughters can see it also. They can look at Niele’s teams. They can look at (volleyball coach) Salima (Rockwell’s) teams. They can see people walking across campus trying to be doctors, trying to be lawyers, trying to be artists, whatever it may be. Everybody here is pursuing excellence. That’s what I want to be around. That’s who I want to be around and who I want to surround myself with. That’s what our team is going to be as well. That’s how we’re going to play. We’re going to pursue excellence on a daily basis.”

On why he took the job

“The final thing is people ask, ‘Why did you come here? What drew you back?’ Home is a big part of it. I get a chance to see my family now really closely and get a chance to be with them on a short drive away.

“The other thing is, and I truly believe this, you can win the national championship here. You can win the national championship here. That’s what we’re going to do and that’s what we’re going to fight for every single day. We’re also going to do it the right way. We’re going to find kids who fit Notre Dame, find kids who care about their academics, find kids who want to be great basketball players. There’s a chance for you to do both here.

“If we do that, if we find those kids, if we be the toughest team, the most disciplined team, the most together team, we’re going to pursue national championships.”

On the identity he envisions for Notre Dame

“The one thing that’s good here is you have a great blueprint. Coach (Mike) Brey had a lot of success here. I had a chance to talk with him about lots of things. He laid the foundation for the success that you can have. We want to follow that up. But we’ll do it in different ways.

“If you were to ask about me, I’m a defensive guy first. I care about defense. It didn’t always show up this year, but I did care about defense. That gives you a chance to win. We have to have a defensive system, a defensive foundation to give yourself a chance to win.

“Basketball-wise, I really value skill. I really value guys who can dribble, pass and shoot. Guys who can think the game, can play on their feet and think on their feet, make decisions really quickly. You’re going to see a lot of that. But before we get to all that, it’s a program built on player development and built on improvement. If we have guys who want that, who want to get better, we’ll have something in place for you.

“Even if you don’t want to get better, you’ll get better by being around us. But if you do, you can really take your game to the next level.”

On how much he thought about the Notre Dame opening during his season

“Not much at all. All I’m thinking about is basketball. I owe that to the kids on our team at Penn State. Those guys have given a lot. We were trying to do something special at that school – hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011 and hadn’t won a game since 2001. That was our main focus. We had some seniors who had given a lot. We had seniors and players who took a chance on me.

“We had some players who took a chance and decided to come play for me before I coached a game. I owed it to those guys to give them my full attention. We had an up-and-down, rocky season, got hot at the end because we were all tunnel vision. I can’t ask them to be tunnel vision on what we were doing in our season and I’m looking elsewhere or doing other things. When our season ended, that’s when my focus shifted and I was really able to focus on this opportunity.”

On his early priorities as head coach

“For me, it’s getting with the current guys, getting on the court and working with them. That’s No. 1 priority for me. I miss the game, even though we just finished playing maybe a week and a half, two weeks ago. I miss being on the court. I miss practice. I love practice. I love workouts. I love being on the court. That’s No. 1 priority for me.”

“Then, obviously, recruiting. Recruiting is really important. It never stops. It hasn’t since this change has happened. Putting our staff together, finding the right guys to lead these young men to doing something special. In that order, that’s what I’m looking forward to doing. There’s time. Everything is so sped up in this microwave society. We have a lot of time. We don’t play a game for a long time. There’s time for us to get our system implemented, time for us to do what we need to do to be successful.

“I don’t want to rush things. I want to find the right fits recruiting-wise and find the right fits staff-wise. This isn’t a quick fix. This is for sustainability for a long time.”