Mike Brey (@NDMikeBrey) is the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame. He led his 2014-2015 team to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. His success in South Bend includes leading nearly every one of his teams to post-season play and being named Big East Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2011.

Earlier, he was head coach at University of Delaware, and before that he was an assistant coach at Duke University, serving on the back-to-back national championship teams of 1991 and 1992. A PCA National Advisory Board Member, Mike graduated from George Washington University in 1982. He played for and coached with legendary high school coach Morgan Wootten at DeMatha High School.

Many youth coaches fancy themselves whiteboard wizards, capable of drawing up a winning last-second play in a late-game timeout. Instead, Brey advises that coaches prepare offensively and defensively in practice for those situations.

That way, coaches are not introducing new and foreign concepts to their players. Rather, they are helping players recall something they have already practiced, which imparts confidence when the players step out of the timeout and back onto the floor.

JrNBA