After UConn head coach Dan Hurley flirted with the Los Angeles Lakers before ultimately sticking with the Huskies, many in college basketball asked the question, “Which college coaches could move to the NBA in the near future?”
A panel of CBS Sports experts gave five names they believe could make the jump, which included Notre Dame’s Micah Shrewsberry.
Shrewsberry was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics under Brad Stevens, for whom he also worked at Butler, from 2013-19. He was listed alongside Hurley, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd (under whom Shrewsberry coached at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup earlier this summer), USC’s Eric Musselman and Alabama’s Nate Oats.
Here’s what CBS Sports had to say about Shrewsberry’s NBA potential, as well as Blue & Gold’s thoughts on the matter.
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What CBS Sports said about Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry
“There are few college basketball coaches with better reputations in the world of Xs and Os than Shrewsberry. If you’re willing to look deeper than what his 50-51 record through three seasons as a college coach shows, it’s obvious he’s got NBA head coaching potential. For starters, he worked under Brad Stevens as a Celtics assistant from 2013 to 2019, meaning he was part of five consecutive playoff runs and knows firsthand what it takes at that level. Since then, he’s worked as an assistant for Matt Painter at Purdue, for two seasons as Penn State’s head coach and for a year as Notre Dame’s head coach.
“Shrewsberry devised a creative system to maximize Penn State’s roster in the 2022-23 season and took the Nittany Lions to their first NCAA Tournament since 2011. It was a 3-point-oriented, five-out philosophy that showed his forward-thinking schematic creativity and a grasp on how to maximize matchup advantages. Then, at Notre Dame, he took over an 11-win program that was decimated by departures and molded it into a team that was playing its best basketball at season’s end. The Fighting Irish are well-positioned to make a run at the NCAA Tournament — or to at least show marked improvement — in 2024-25.
“Once he gets the Fighting Irish to the Big Dance, don’t be surprised to hear his name come up in NBA head coaching searches. His combination of strategic savvy and well-rounded experience are more than enough to get him a look at the next level.”
— CBS Sports writer David Cobb
Blue & Gold’s thoughts
It remains to be seen if they can translate it into more high-profile recruiting wins, but the Irish believe one of their biggest advantages on that front is the way Shrewsberry’s system, terminology and culture prepares players for the NBA.
Obviously, the Irish don’t have to worry about Shrewsberry going back to the professional level for some time. If this does happen at some point, it would mean he did well enough in his time at Notre Dame to garner NBA consideration. It’s not necessarily a “good problem to have,” but it’s the kind of problem Irish fans would rather concern themselves with than “Will they break a seven-game losing streak,” or “Will they take the next step after a 13-20 season.”
I would also slightly push back on the “well-positioned to make a run at the NCAA Tournament” comment. I fully agree that the Irish can show marked improvement from the 2023-24 campaign, but the core players are still young. Once players like Markus Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry and Tae Davis are juniors and seniors and new building blocks emerge from the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes, that’s when March Madness will become the expectation.
Is it impossible? Absolutely not. But the more realistic outcome for Notre Dame’s season is a significant record improvement that provides optimism for a tournament run in 2025-26.
However, articles like this show the national media’s hand regarding Shrewsberry’s Irish. It’s not a question of if Shrewsberry brings Notre Dame back to the NCAA Tournament, but when. The details about his forward-thinking coaching and X’s and O’s reputation are correct as well.
There is a reason Shrewsberry’s Jon Rothstein tagline is “More plays than Broadway.”
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