Indy guy... Some good mentors.. Really liked how PSU played. Not a big track record as a head coach... The most important thing will be whether he proves to be a good recruiter. I personally think he can coach but he also needs talent.... Time will tell but at this moment it does seem to be a good hire.
D1 experience. First hand witness and contributor to Butler's run to two NCAA Finals. Son that can play doesn't hurt either.
Taking Penn State to the NCAA Basketball Tournament in two years is akin to taking Kansas to a major bowl game in football. Penn State is not even close to being a basketball destination. Pennsylvania kids think Pitt and Villanova and elsewhere not Penn State. Shrewsberry got it done quickly and has/had a solid recruiting class coming in. Great positive energy at Penn State, have to believe it will be even higher with the Irish.
I am confident Shrewsberry will quickly ramp up Notre Dame basketball recruiting to Top 25 level and higher and wins will follow sooner rather than later.
longer picture, no NCAA for Penn State since 2010-11. After joining the Big Ten in 1992-93 the Nittany Lions have effectively been a slightly sub-.500 team overall with 5 seasons where they didn't even reach double figures in wins and only 7 seasons with better than 20 wins.
Notre Dame has a rich basketball history--Penn State...not so much.
Kudos to Jack on getting this done, and welcome Micah Shrewsberry to the family.
It sure looks as though we got a high character coach who has earned the respect and admiration of his players, his peers in the coaching community, and even the pros. The heartfelt praise coming from a player like Jaylen Brown, who was struggling to find his place in NBA in his first few years, means a lot.
And money issues aside, the fact that he’s coming has to be a sign that our campus leadership has agreed to some degree of greater flexibility or consideration with regard to transfers, by-the-book admission standards, etc.
Managed to not completely trip on his crank with this hire doesn't mean he did a good job. I hope it pans out, but it still smacks of a low hanging fruit hire.
The Swarbrick hatred here makes people say the darnedest things.
I couldn't care less if you think the guy is the incarnation of Beelzebub, frankly, but what is "low hanging fruit" about any of this?
He just pulled in a Big Ten head coach, for chrissakes.
One would have to have no prior relationship with a candidate? I can’t even begin to tell you how fucking stupid I think the whole “low hanging fruit” concept is.
A home run. And it certainly doesn't merit Swarbrick getting much, if any, credit.
level AD should have been able to make this hire. PSU is a terrible basketball program. They have been to 10 tournaments in program history. They have never been to two consecutive tournaments. Not counting a one season stint by his predecessor, their last coach made zero tournament in nine seasons. The program is so bad, he was still allowed to have the job for nine seasons. The previous coach had one tournament in eight seasons. Prior to that, that guy went to one tournament in eight seasons.
In the past two years, Shrewsberry landed two 4 stars among 8 recruits. Only one of them was a top 100 recruit. And he was a revered legacy. You have to go back to 2016 for the last time PSU landed a four-star recruit. He has no commitments lined up for 2025. Who in their right mind would want to recruit at Penn State?
I don't care what PSU was offering outside of compensation. Any respectable school offering similar money ought to be able to land a PSU coach. If Jack couldn't get this done, it would have been a major failure. I also note that I'm not aware of a coach ever getting an initial seven-year deal. Six years seems to be the industry standard. At first blush, that seems like a length that shouldn't be necessary to land a coach in Shrewsberry's position.
That doesn't mean there isn't reason to be excited and like the hire. Of course there is. There's reason to be optimistic based on his background. People are projecting that into an expectation that he will recruit well based on how respected he is and the connections he has in Indiana. And the optimistic view is that we're just seeing his hard work click with the late run they've had. But I wouldn't call this a home run. We still don't know if he's going to be a good recruiter. I don't know if he'll be as good as McDermott, who has landed a decent number of four star recruits lately. Hopefully he parlays hit hot hand into some success on the trail.
because if you look at the alumns of people who actually know him and his actual work at their schools or talk to people in the industry, they are calling it a home run. There’s no guarantees here, never in a coaching hire but come on.
I guess, some were expecting Jay Wright to come out of retirement.
Considering a resume only takes one so far. The judgment of knowledgeable people in a position to assess the candidate and his body of work is critical to an informed assessment.
Your opinion is reassuring.
This was hardly an easy deal to make. And to be clear- I think Jack is a colossal douche.
Please be very specific. Bonus if you’re willing to share who you’ve spoken to within the industry as well regarding him.
ND put some of it's vaunted money to use hiring a hot coach and
competed to win. They didn't turn and slink away. We will all be
happy when Swarbrick is finally gone but he did a good job here.
Indiana roots. Low hanging fruit. Overpay with an offer he couldn't say no to.
I get that we didn't beat out Duke to hire Shrewsberry, but this is pretty far from "low hanging fruit" on almost every dimension.
For those of us, not in the loop, can someone explain why he is an ideal coach? he has limited head coaching experience. his coaching lineage Seems above average. So what makes him so special?
And I write this as someone who was very impressed with his sideline demeanor and active coaching during the NCAA tournament, but...
- Only two years of experience as a head coach
- No record of turning a failed program around (and ND needs a complete re-boot in every facet of the program)
- Needed to win 8 of the last 10 games this year just to make the tourney (after one of those infamous 'players only' meetings, nonetheless)
- 10-10 in the Big Ten this year (and guys, Penn State went 11-9 in the 2019-20 season... they're a middling program, but far from a complete disaster)
- Had his success while having an All-American on the roster who was a near-generational college talent in Pickett (a generous assessment, but the kid was an absolute difference maker)
I'm extremely encouraged about his recruiting prowess and that his first step at PSU was to focus on defense, but... I can't help myself, hold me, I'm Irish.
I'm optimistic, but perplexed why the members on this board are so giddy.
Hire after being publicly rejected by every coach any of us had on our target list, ending with a Solomon type hire.
We have all given Jack a lot of flak for his less than stellar actions recently, as well as throughout his tenure. However, when he makes a decision like this one I must commend him on it. Very well done. And I hope this is a sign of vast improvement for him on future moves
Savvy. No turtlenecks, must shave before each game. No shorts. Shirts must be kept on.
Congratulations to Jack and his team for getting it done