Brey leaves Blue Devils for Blue Hens [cont. from pg 1]

play three seasons at Northwestern (La.) State before transferring to George Washington for his final year, a season in which he was selected as the Colonials' team captain and earned the squad's most valuable player award for his performance at the point guard spot. Brey graduated from George Washington in 1982.

He returned to DeMatha that same year, beginning his coaching career as the head coach of the junior varsity team there. He served as a varsity assistant at DeMatha from 1982-87, and during that time helped the Stags rack up a 139-22 record, four conference championships, two city titles and a USA Today No. 1 national ranking. From there, he went directly into his job at Duke.

Brey has passed up head coaching opportunities before, at schools ranging from Marshall to UNC-Wilmington. Last spring, he reportedly turned down the head post at Auburn.

"What impressed us most about Mike was his knowledge and enthusiasm for the game, his recruiting contacts and his past success," Johnson said. "We are pleased to get a person with his background and experience to coach at Delaware. We are confident he will keep our program moving forward."

Brey, who was one of 103 applicants for the Delaware position, replaces Steve Steinwedel (himself a former Duke assistant), who announced his resignation March 7 after leading the Blue Hens to a composite record of 163-121, two North Atlantic Conference titles and two NCAA tournament appearances over the past 10 years. Delaware is coming off a 12-15 season (7-9 in the NAC) in 1994-95, its first losing season since 1986-87. The Blue Hens will return three starters and four of their top five scorers from last year's squad, giving Brey a solid team with which to begin his career at Delaware.

"He certainly is ready to be a head coach, and what Delaware doesn't understand yet is that his best attribute is his family and all the support they will bring to the program," Krzyzewski said. "We will miss all of them at Duke, but wish them all well in the future."

Brey could not be reached for comment.