Micah Shrewsberry recaps the timeline of end of last season, hire at Notre Dame

The coaching carousel scooped Micah Shrewsberry up for a ride this offseason after leading Penn State to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade. However, based on his own retelling of it, Notre Dame started talking with him much more quickly than some may have guessed.

Shrewsberry explained the steps of his hiring process in South Bend on ‘College Hoops Today’ with Jon Rothstein. He said that, after the Nittany Lion’s loss to Texas in the Round of 32, his focus was on himself on Sunday and then his seniors on Monday. Then, come Tuesday, his conversations with the Fighting Irish began.

“We ended up heading back and we had a really late flight. We didn’t get back until early, early in the morning. (I) kind of spent all day Sunday just trying to decompress from the season. And then, from there, I got on the phone with our guys,” Shrewsberry explained. “I had meetings set up with our seniors from that team to try and help them in what their next step would be. But I did that on Monday.”

“Notre Dame reached out and wanted to meet with me. And I met with those guys on Tuesday. And then I had more meetings on Wednesday with the underclassmen to try and talk to them and help them,” said Shrewsberry. “I was really trying to say what’s next? How do we move on? What can we do better next year? How can you improve as a player? I tried to do those things first and foremost.”

After 23 seasons, Notre Dame was left to replace Mike Brey at the end of the year. From the very start, Shrewsberry seemed like a very ideal name for them to consider. After a 14-17 record in his first season, he bounced back with a 23-14 finish at Penn State. That stretch included a spot in the Big Ten Tournament Championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2011.

Add in his connections to the state of Indiana and Shrewsberry just made too much sense for Notre Dame. That’s why, according to his own timeline, they came as calling as quickly as they did to ask about his availability.

Shrewsberry says it’s still ‘surreal’ being at Notre Dame

At the end of March, former Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry left Happy Valley and headed to South Bend, Indiana to become the new head coach of the Notre Dame men’s basketball team. Fast forward to now, two months after his decision, and the whole thing is still surreal to Shrewsberry.

“Yeah, it really is. You know, there’s days where I just kind of pinch myself. And I’m like, ‘Dang, I’m the head coach at Notre Dame.’ And I’ve had a pretty fast rise up to this level. But it’s something that I’m really looking forward to. I’m really looking forward to representing Notre Dame the right way,” said Shrewsberry during a recent interview on College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein.

It makes sense that Shrewsberry is still on cloud nine after taking over the reins at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish’s coach has some strong ties to Indiana, stemming back to his days as a youth.

He attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and played college basketball at Hanover College. Shrewsberry also worked as an assistant coach at D-III Wabash from 1999-2000 and DePauw from 2001-03. That was before he became the head coach at Indiana-South Bend from 2005-07.