Last night was an Irish love fest of sorts as Luke Harangody was named the Big East Player of the Year and Mike Brey was tabbed the Coach of the Year for the second straight season. Brey becomes only the third coach in league history to win BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors in consecutive seasons. The others were P.J. Carlesimo of Seton Hall (1988-99) and Lou Carnesecca of St. John’s (1985-86).
Picked ninth in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll, the Irish finished tied for second place under Brey with a 14-4 conference record. Overall, Notre Dame is 24-6. Brey is in his eighth season as the Irish head coach and owns a 166-84 record.
What is more amazing is the fact that Brey is now the 6th All-Time Winningest Coach by percentage in Big East games with a .638 average. Three Hall of Fame coaches, John Thompson, Jim Calhoun, and Jim Boeheim, along with John Thompson III, and Jamie Dixon are ahead of Brey.
Brey also moved up the Big East record books in all-time conference wins with 83 victories. He is now in 8th place behind Thompson, Calhoun, Boeheim, Carlesimo, Carnesecca, and Steve Lappas. Not bad for a coach who supposedly can’t teach, motivate, or recruit. Brey has definitely hushed his critics and rightfully deserves everything that is coming his way. Obviously his peers think so.
The question now is whether Brey can make it the Triple Crown next season?
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