Notre Dame Basketball: 8 early candidates to replace head coach Mike Brey

Martin Ingelsby

Twenty-three years ago, Notre Dame was faced with their second coaching search in two years; Matt Doherty had only been there for a single season before leaving for the North Carolina job. They landed their man and secured the program for two decades by hiring a talented young head coach from Delaware. What if history repeats itself?

Ingelsby isn’t just a random coach from the same school Brey started at; he was a point guard at Notre Dame under Doherty and Brey. He then spent the majority of his coaching career with the Fighting Irish, joining the staff in 2003 and staying for 13 years. Ingelsby helped recruit a majority of the talent that came to Notre Dame across that time, such as Jerian Grant and Benzie Colson. He’s been at Delaware since 2016 and broke through last season, leading the Fightin’ Blue Hens to just their second NCAA Tournament since Brey left the program at the turn of the century.

He’s familiar with Notre Dame, he’s an alumnus, and he has an eerily similar path to that job as Brey. There’s a lot to like here, especially with the way Delaware played en route to that CAA title last year. However, he’s only been somewhat successful with the Hens and it’d be quite a jump to the ACC, inheriting his alma mater in need of a big boost. He’s got the connections and it would be an important job to him, but the resume might be lacking.