Possible hires to replace Mike Brey following his last game as Notre Dame men’s basketball coach include Chris Holtman, the head coach at Ohio State.
Beyond that, several NBA assistants have been mentioned as prospects, including Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns and former Irish player Chris Quinn, a Miami Heat assistant.
The associate head coach at Notre Dame is Anthony Solomon, a 1987 Virginia graduate who was a member of the Cavaliers’ 1984 team that reached the Final Four.
After that, Solomon coached at Delaware, where he worked under Brey, as well as stints at Richmond and Virginia, before he was the head coach at St. Bonaventure for four seasons.
In earlier years, Solomon had gone to Warwick High School in Newport News before heading to UVa, where he played in 56 games between 1984-87.
Brey, who turns 63 later this month, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing, who is expected to resign or be fired after a 7-24 regular season.
Brey, the winningest coach in Notre Dame men’s basketball history, is a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School, which has one of the most notable programs in the D.C. area. He played collegiately at Northwestern (Louisiana) State University before transferring to George Washington University in D.C.
He went on to coach under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke before Delaware and Notre Dame, where his top accomplishment might have come when his Irish won the 2015 ACC championship.
Hot seat
With its 28th loss of the season, Louisville is certain to reevaluate the status of Kenny Payne, a former Cardinal player who was pressed into service following the 2021-22 season.
After Chris Mack was fired during the 2021-22 season, the Cardinals finished the season with assistant Mike Pegues taking over as coach. After the season, Pegues accepted a position on the Butler staff.
Payne, his successor, watched the Cardinals go 4-28 this season.
“I feel very blessed to be at my school,” Payne said after a Tuesday loss to Boston College. “I remember a couple of years ago when Juwan Howard and I were talking when he got the Michigan job [at Howard’s alma mater].
“I talked about the gift and the curse. Everybody thinks it’s all hunky-dory … but when you go back to your school, your alma mater, the place you love, there’s an uncomfortable feeling you have every single day.”
Bob Valvano, the younger brother of Jim Valvano, who took N.C. State to the 1983 NCAA championship, has served as a television and radio commentator for years — mostly for Louisville, although he has been dealing with health issues of late.
“He’s a good man,” Valvano says of Payne’s status going forward. “I’m rooting hard for
him.”
Transfer portal
Kedon Slovis, who played quarterback for Pittsburgh last year, is headed to Brigham Young for the 2023 fall season. Slovis, from Scottsdale, Arizona, spent three seasons at Southern Cal earlier in his career.
He passed for 2,397 yards and 10 touchdowns last season for Pitt and has close to 10,000 for his college career.
Milestone
Virginia Tech had individual champions in Mekhi Lewis (174 pounds) and Caleb Henson (149 pounds) in the ACC wrestling championships, where Virginia had a winner with Justin McCoy at 165 pounds.
Tech was second behind team champion N.C. State and UVa was fifth in a six-team field.
- An 18-13 victory for Virginia’s No. 2 men’s lacrosse team on Saturday at Johns Hopkins’ legendary Homewood Field marked the Cavaliers’ third straight win in the series.
Award
The Gatorade girls’ basketball player of the year for the second year in a row in Virginia is Kymora Johnson, a UVa signee from St. Anne’s-Belfield, located within walking distance of the UVa grounds. The boys’ choice will be announced next week.
Holland
Virginia announced that John Paul Jones Arena will be the site of a May 6 tribute to Terry Holland, the record-setting, longtime UVa basketball coach who died Feb. 27 from complications of Alzheimer’s.