Only a year after rumors began circulating that Duke men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski would leave for a job in the NBA, the prospect of the Blue Devils' losing a basketball coach has become a reality.
Only this time, it's not Coach K. It's assistant coach Mike Brey. And this time, it's not the NBA, but the University of Delaware.
Delaware athletic director Edgar Johnson announced Wednesday that he had hired Brey as the 21st coach in the Blue Hens' 90-year basketball history.
"We are extremely excited that Mike Brey has agreed to become our new head basketball coach," Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. "Mike was our top candidate all along. He is an outstanding individual whom we feel was the best assistant coach in college basketball."
Brey, a 36 year-old native of Rockville, Md., came to Duke in 1987 and spent eight years as an assistant under Krzyzewski. During his tenure, the Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA Final Four six times and won national championships in 1991 and 1992. Duke compiled an outstanding 216-65 record during Brey's stay in Durham.
"Mike Brey has been an integral part of our successes at Duke over the past eight years," Krzyzewski said in a statement. "In that time, we have been to six Final fours, four national championship games and won two national championships, none of which would have been possible without Mike.
"I have greatly depended on his knowledge of the game and his ability to work with people. He's got the total package and I feel bad that I won't be able to work with him closely in the future."
Brey's playing career began with a stint under legendary high school coach Morgan Wooten at Hyattsville's (Md.) DeMatha High. He went on to 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.
In addition to his in-season coaching experience, Brey spent part of the summer of 1993 in Nottingham, England as a clinic teacher and assisted fellow Duke assistant coach Pete Gaudet on the Atlantic Coast Conference Select Team's 1993 summer tour of Canada.
"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, 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, speaking of Brey's wife Tish, son Kyle and daughter Callie. "We will miss all of them at Duke, but wish them all well in the future."
Brey was unavailable for comment.
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