Notre Dame Officially Announces Ryan Ayers As Assistant Coach

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey seems to have rounded out his staff for the upcoming season.

Former Irish standout Ryan Ayers was officially announced as an assistant coach hire by the program June 14, joining another former captain Ryan Humphrey (link) on the staff.

Ayers and Humphrey fill the roles that were vacated by former assistants Martin Ingelsby and Anthony Solomon. Ingelsby left the program for the head coaching position at Delaware, while Solomon took an assistant job at Georgetown.

"We are going back to the well of former players, `getting the band back together' so to speak," Brey said in a Notre Dame release. "Ryan Ayers was one of those players that took time to develop.

"He got older, he got stronger then as the light bulb went on he had two great years as a junior and senior. We get a lot of young men who develop like that and to have Ryan here as an example, to talk them through those developmental stages, will be very important."

Ayers played at Notre Dame from 2005-09, serving as captain his senior season while averaging 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He graduated with a degree in marketing from the Mendoza College of Business and was a two-year member of Notre Dame's Student Advisory Council.

His father, Randy Ayers, served as Ohio State head coach from 1989-1997 and has held several assistant coaching stints in the NBA. He was named National Coach of the Year with the Buckeyes in 1991.

Ryan joins the program directly from Bucknell, where he has served as an assistant since November 2014. The Bison won the Patriot's League regular season title in both his seasons there.

"I am extremely excited to rejoin the Notre Dame basketball family," Ayers said in a Notre Dame release. "Some of the fondest memories of my life have been wearing that Irish jersey and playing for Coach Brey.

"I am humbled and honored for this opportunity and ready to give back to the student-athletes and this University that has given so much to me."

Following his career as a student-athlete at Notre Dame, Ayers played 50 games for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA's D-League in 2009-10. He then played for various clubs overseas, including Namika Lahti (Finland) in 2010-11 and Boulazac Basket Dordogne (France) in 2011-12. He spent additional time in France, with the Austin Toros of the D-League and again in Finland before his hiring at Bucknell.

Ayers ranks fourth all-time in the Notre Dame history books with a 42.4 percent three-point field goal percentage.