Mike Brey is one of those coaches who seems to be generally well-liked by everyone he comes in contact with.
Opposing coaches never have a bad word to say about him. Opposing fans struggle to come up with ways to heckle him. His players love him. Its not hard to figure out why. He’s loyal, he’s friendly and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. How do we know? Well, for starters, he crowd-surfed at a pep rally for Notre Dame students prior to the loss they suffered at the hands of USC on Saturday:
Brey is one of the few honest men left in the college coaching business. Want proof? See Eric Katenda. Unless you are a recruiting die-hard, that name probably won’t sound familiar. He’s a 6'9" freshman that was supposed to enroll in South Bend this year. But over the summer, while playing a pick-up basketball game, Katenda suffered a freak eye injury that will leave him blind in one eye.
It would be easy for Brey to take away Katenda’s scholarship But he won’t. Regardless of whether or not he is ever able to set foot on a basketball court again, Brey will honor Katenda’s scholarship.
How many coaches in this business would do that?
And how many would stage dive at a pep rally?
(h/t Billy Edelin)
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.