Throughout its 105 year history, Cathedral has piled up an impressive list of alumni that have gone on to do great things after graduating and leaving The Hill. This list includes Olympic athletes, NFL pro-bowlers, World Series Champions, federal judges, Nobel Peace Prize winners and more. One of these alumni, Mr. Micah Shrewsberry ‘95, was recently named the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame.
Shrewsberry was a four year basketball and baseball player on The Hill, and was involved in the peer mentor program. He was named to the prom court as a junior and was homecoming king as a senior, before heading to Hanover to attend college and play basketball. Shrewsberry believes that his time on The Hill was helpful in preparing him for life in college and beyond. He said, “I felt like I was really prepared academically for college just because of what we went through while we were in high school.” He added, “Just the chance to be a part of the Cathedral community was really helpful for me. A lot of the ties that I made there are still really beneficial for me.” Shrewsberry mentioned Director of Philanthropic Engagement Mrs. Jean Smith ‘97 specifically as someone he keeps in touch with to this day.
After graduating from Hanover, Shrewsberry was able to use the connections he made at Cathedral to land his first coaching position. Two of Shrewsberry’s former teammates, Andy Weaver ‘95 and Chuck Gilbert ‘95 were players at the University of Indianapolis, and they introduced Shrewsberry to the coaches there. Shrewsberry said, “That’s how I got my first opportunity, was really because of those two guys playing there that helped me kind of get my foot in the door.”
Once he got his first coaching job, Shrewsberry never looked back. He quickly became an assistant coach at the Division 3 level, coaching at both Wabash and Depauw before taking the head coaching position at IU South Bend, a NAIA program. After two years there, Shrewsberry joined the staff of legendary coach Brad Stevens at Butler. With the Bulldogs he was able to coach in two national championship games. From there, he joined the staff of Matt Painter at Purdue. According to Shrewsberry, Painter and Stevens were great influences on him as a coach, but he also mentioned former Wabash coach Matt Petty and former Depauw coach Bill Finland as having taught him a lot about the game. He said, “I think a lot of the smaller school coaches have really shaped me.”
An unexpected twist in Shrewsberry’s career came in 2013, when he followed Brad Stevens to the NBA, moving to Boston to coach the Celtics as one of Stevens’ assistants. He said, “I wasn’t looking to go to the NBA. It was never one of my goals. But it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up to coach at the highest level.” While with the Celtics, Shrewsberry helped the team to five playoff appearances and coached players such as Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Rajon Rondo and Isaiah Thomas.
According to Shrewsberry, coaching in the NBA was surprisingly similar to coaching in college. He said, “The guys in the NBA want to be coached also, so there’s still an opportunity to help them get better, to help them as players.” He added, “That part of it kind of gets overlooked. That they’re still trying to grow and get better.”
However, in 2019, Shrewsberry opted to return to college, rejoining Painter’s staff at Purdue. He said, regarding that decision, “I loved every part of the NBA, the coaching side of it, but like, college is where I wanted to be.”
After two more years with the Boilermakers, Shrewsberry achieved what had been his goal since he started coaching, as he was hired as the head coach at Penn State. He said, “I knew in college I wanted to coach, so, you know, 20 years later I become a head coach at the Division 1 level and in the Big Ten. So it was kind of a surreal moment for me.” In just his second year with Penn State, Shrewsberry was able to lead them to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011, as well as regular season wins over Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. In the tournament, the 10 seeded Nittany Lions defeated Texas A&M before falling to Texas in the Round of 32.
However, after achieving that success, Shrewsberry opted to leave, and head back to South Bend for another head coaching gig. This time, however, it was not at the NAIA level, but instead at Notre Dame. Shrewsberry was hired as the replacement for long-time Irish coach Mike Brey, in March. It was a decision that he called “really hard”. He added, “I coached here for two years in South Bend, so I’m familiar with the area and coming to a place with a great basketball tradition, but one of the best academic schools in the country.”
Notre Dame had a bit of a down year last season, ending with a record of 11-21. However, Shrewsberry is optimistic about the future of the program. He said, “I think when we get together for the first time this summer, setting the expectations of who we want to be and how we want to play. I think that’s first and foremost of what we want to do.” Shrewsberry brings in some impressive recruits from his Penn State recruiting class, persuading them to come to South Bend with him. Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class ranks 25th in the nation on 247 Sports, and it includes New Hampshire recruit Carey Booth, Zionsville product Logan Imes, Penn’s Markus Burton and Shrewsberry’s own son, Braeden.
Though his goal of being a head coach has been achieved, Shrewsberry is not yet satisfied. He said, “My goal is to eventually get us in position to play in the Final Four and try to win a National Championship.”
