Micah Shrewsberry 2023-24 Men's Basketball Staff
Glenn & Stacey Murphy Head Coach
On March 24, 2023, an Indiana native came home to kickstart a new era of Notre Dame men’s basketball. Vice President and James E. Rohr Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick announced Micah Shrewsberry as the 18th head coach in Fighting Irish men’s basketball history.
“We are so excited to have Coach (Shrewsberry) join the Notre Dame family,” Swarbrick said. “Throughout this process, it reaffirmed for me that this job was among the best in the country as we had many great candidates express interest.”
“During our two-month process, we weekly reviewed our candidate pool and each week he (Micah) stayed at the top of our list due to his fit at the University and his commitment to the student-athlete experience. Not only do his personal & family values align with the University, but his dedication to the development of each member of his program as well.”
Shrewsberry brought a wealth of experience and success to the helm of the Notre Dame program. All-in-all he’s coached in six NCAA Tournaments, two NCAA Final Fours, five NBA Playoffs and two NBA Conference Finals – in addition to coaching all-NBA honorees Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“I’m very excited to be joining the University of Notre Dame family,” Shrewsberry said. “The combination of top notch academics, plus a long storied history of success on the basketball court, made this a very attractive job for me. The power of the Notre Dame brand, and the passionate alumni family, will allow us to recruit the brightest student-athletes from coast to coast. I can’t wait to get to campus and begin connecting with the students, faculty and staff which make this place special.”
Year One with the Irish
Coach Shrewsberry achieved two of his priorities in the 2023-24 season: establish the right culture at Notre Dame and have the team playing its best basketball at the end of the season. It was a program that returned 1.6% of its scoring and was projected to finish dead last in the ACC. The young Irish team came together and doubled its ACC win total from the year prior, finishing 7-13 in league play. Coach Shrewsberry even received several votes for ACC Coach of the Year. Notre Dame finished with a 13-20 overall record and won one game (First Round vs. Georgia Tech) in the ACC Tournament.
The first key moment of the season included an emphatic 76-54 win over Virginia. What Shrews’ crew accomplished had never been done by an Irish team against the Cavaliers .. ever … it was the largest margin of victory against UVA in the all-time series. In addition, the 76 points were the most scored by an Irish squad against the Cavaliers in regulation in program history. Furthermore, right after the Virginia contest, the Irish almost pulled off the upset to two teams who made the Elite Eight in NC State and Duke.
Next, the Irish bonded together by winning five of six during the final portion of the regular season, which included the final four at home (Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson). From Feb. 1 to March 1, Notre Dame was the biggest mover in kenpom AdjEM across the Power-Five conferences. Another fun stat: when the first NET rankings came on Dec. 4, the Irish were 238. On March 10, the Irish were up to 126.
An early Coach Shrewsberry stamp on the program was the defensive intensity. Notre Dame scoring defense of 67.2 finished with a national ranking of 49th in the country, plus 3rd in the ACC. According to KenPom, Notre Dame’s defensive efficiency ranked 39th nationally. In ACC play, Notre Dame ranked 2nd in scoring defense (66.4) and 2nd in field goal percentage defense (.417). Of the 20 ACC games – all but three (Virginia Tech on March 9, UNC on March 5 & Syracuse on Feb. 24) were held under their season average, with Miami, Duke and Louisville each held to season-low point totals.
Lastly – two freshman guards flourished under Coach Shrewsberry in Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry. Burton became the program’s first ACC Rookie of the Year. He also broke the program freshman scoring record after dropping 577 points. Burton averaged 17.5 points both on the season and in league play, leading the Irish. Shrewsberry was the lone other Irish to finish in double figures, averaging 10.2 points on the year and 11.3 points in ACC play. With that said, Burton and Shrewsberry became the 9th ACC freshmen duo in league history to rank No. 1 and No. 2 for their team in scoring, proving the future is bright in South Bend.
Prior to Notre Dame, Shrewsberry produced a historic turnaround as the head coach at Penn State. After a 14-17 first season, Shrewsberry produced a 23-14 mark in 2022-23, just the 12th 20-win season in the 127-year history of Penn State basketball. Furthermore, he collected more Big Ten wins (17) in his first two seasons than any other Penn State head coach.
Shrewsberry certainly captured the nation’s attention in late February and into March, going 9-3 over their last 12 games. Shrewsberry then made plenty of noise in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, defeating No. 7 Illinois, No. 2 Northwestern and No. 3 Indiana to reach the championship game as the No. 10 seed. It marked the program’s second-ever Big Ten title game appearance. Penn State was just the third double-digit seed to reach the Big Ten Tournament championship game and the first since 2008.
The Nittany Lions then made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011. In the first round, Shrewsberry and the Nittany Lions knocked off No. 7 seed and SEC Tournament runner-up Texas A&M, winning the program’s first NCAA Tournament game since 2001.
In year one at Penn State, Shrewsberry engineered the Big Ten’s best scoring defense and guided the squad to their best defensive season (65.0 points allowed per game) in 11 years. The Nittany Lions advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament after winning two postseason games, making Shrewsberry one of just two first-year Big Ten coaches since 2008 to win two Big Ten Tournament games.
Recruiting-wise, Shrewsberry made an instant splash in Happy Valley. In his first year, Shrewsberry signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history, a consensus top-30 class. A year later, he signed his second-straight top-30 recruiting class, marking the first time in program history that the Nittany Lions had signed back-to-back top-30 recruiting classes.
Development-wise, Shrewsberry proved himself there as well, turning Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy into 2nd Round NBA Draft picks. It marked the first time in program history that two Nittany Lions were selected.
Statistically speaking, the 2022-23 squad set the B1G and Penn State single-season team record for three-pointers made in a season with 385. The Nittany Lions compiled a total of five top-15 national statistical rankings. In addition, Shrewsberry tutored an Associated Press All-American in Jalen Pickett and a total of three All-Big Ten players during the 2022-23 season.
Prior to his time with Penn State, Shrewsberry experienced two separate stints at Purdue – one as assistant coach from 2011-13 and another as associate head coach from 2019-21. Highlights include the 2020-21 season, in which Shrewsberry helped lead the Boilermakers to a 13-6 fourth-place finish in the Big Ten and an 18-10 overall mark, culminating in an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Trevion Williams claimed first-team All-Big Ten honors, while Zach Edey and Jaden Ivey were All-Freshman Team selections. Shrewsberry played a major role in recruiting Ivey, who grew up in South Bend and is the son of Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Women’s Basketball Coach Niele Ivey.
Another highlight from his time in West Lafayette includes the 2011-12 squad that produced a 22-13 record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Under Shrewsberry, Terone Johnson was one of the most improved players in the B1G, netting accolades from conference and national entities.
In between his Purdue stints, Shrewsberry spent six seasons (2013-19) with the NBA’s Boston Celtics as an assistant coach under Brad Stevens. During his tenure, the Celtics reached the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, including back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017 and 2018.
Shrewsberry played a key role in the development of current NBA stars Brown and Tatum, who were the No. 3 picks in the 2016 and 2017 NBA Drafts, respectively. Tatum was an NBA All-Rookie Team first-team selection, while Brown earned second-team All-Rookie honors.
The Brad Stevens connection was previously made at Butler University, where Shrewsberry spent one year as the director of operations then three as an assistant coach. With Shrewsberry on the sidelines, the Bulldogs compiled an 87-21 record, won two Horizon League regular-season championships and two Horizon League Tournament titles and made three NCAA Tournament appearances – which included back-to-back runs to the national championship game in 2010 and 2011.
Also at Butler, he aided in the development of Gordon Hayward, who was the 2009 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, the 2010 Horizon League Player of the Year and a 2010 Final Four All-Tournament Team selection. Hayward was the ninth overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.
Continuing on Shrewsberry’s basketball journey, he spent time as the director of basketball operations at Marshall University (2003-05) and an assistant coach at DePauw University (2001-03) and Wabash College (2000-01). At DePauw, Shrewsberry led the Tigers to a 42-12 record with a pair of conference championships.
Shrewsberry was also the first men’s basketball head coach at Indiana University South Bend. Shrewsberry started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Indianapolis in 1999-2000.
An Indianapolis area native, Shrewsberry earned his bachelor’s degree from Hanover College in 1999 and a master’s degree from Indiana State in 2003. As a player at Hanover, Shrewsberry was a three-year starting guard and team tri-captain.
He and his wife, Molly, have four children, Braeden, Nicholas, Caitlin and Grace.
Coaching Career
2023-Pres. Notre Dame – Head Coach
2021-23 Penn State – Head Coach
2019-21 Purdue – Associate Head Coach
2013-19 Boston Celtics – Assistant Coach
2011-13 Purdue – Assistant Coach
2008-11 Butler – Assistant Coach
2007-08 Butler – Coordinator of Basketball Operations
2005-07 IU-South Bend – Head Coach
2003-05 Marshall – Director of Basketball Operations
2001-03 DePauw – Assistant Coach
2001-01 Wabash – Assistant Coach
1999-2000 University of Indianapolis– Graduate Assistant Coach