With the departure of Martin Inglesby and Anthony Solomon, Mike Brey has two vacancies to fill in his coaching staff.
In addition to replacing captains Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, and AJ Burgett, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Basketball coach Mike Brey will need to fill two other leadership spots before next year. Earlier this week, it was announced that two Irish assistants would be leaving the ND program to take jobs elsewhere. Top assistant Martin Inglesby was hired as the head coach at Delaware. Inglesby played under Brey in his senior year at Notre Dame, and has been on Brey's staff for 13 seasons. Delaware went 7-23 last season, and finished 278th nationally in KenPom. Inglesby's move isn't all that surprising as he's been considered a head coaching candidate after the last two seasons. Frequently tapped as Brey's eventual replacement, Inglesby will get the chance to run the program where Brey got his start as a head coach. Should he turn the Blue Hens around, expect to hear his name as a potential Irish coach in the future.
In a more surprising move, Anthony Solomon left his spot on the ND bench to take an assistant job at Georgetown. Solomon has spent 10 seasons coaching at ND during two separate stints that bookended his time as the head coach at St. Bonaventure. Solomon is considered one of the top recruiters on the ND staff, and was the lead recruiter for Demetrius Jackson. Both Solomon and his wife attended Virginia, so the move to the east coast does bring him closer to home. Brey indicated there was no ill will after either move, and that he was happy to see his assistants offered new opportunities.
At the top of the list to replace these two assistants are a number of former Irish players. Brey mentioned he had "four or five guys in mind" that were leaders when they played under Brey. These probably include Ryan Ayers, Ryan Humphery, Ben Hansborough, Eric Atkins, Chris Quinn, and Tory Jackson. They all played under Brey and have started down the path to becoming coaches. Ayers is currently an assistant at Bucknell while Humphery serves as the Director of Player Development at Northwestern. Quinn was in the same position as Humphery at Northwestern before moving to a similar position with the Miami Heat. Jackson spent a season as a high school coach, and also spent time as an assistant. Brey also indicated that he was open to going outside the program for one of the openings, and that he's already taken phone calls from coaches interested in the job. It does seem likely, however, that at least one of the spots will go to a former ND player. Although he stated that he wouldn't rush into the two hires, Brey did indicate that he wanted to fill at least one of the spots by the time players return to campus for the summer semester on June 13th.
