Ryan Humphrey And Ryan Ayers Return Home To Notre Dame
The past week has represented a homecoming of sorts for new Irish assistants Ryan Humphrey and Ryan Ayers.
The former Notre Dame players — Humphrey played with the Irish from 2000-02 before going in the first round of the NBA Draft while Ayers competed for the program from 2005-09 — have filled the vacancies opened by the departure of Martin Ingelsby (Delaware head coach) and Anthony Solomon (Georgetown assistant).
“It happened so fast and just to not only come back home but to be a part of something like this, I get goosebumps because it doesn't seem real,” said Humphrey, who will coach the Irish big men. “A couple weeks ago I was in Evanston [as the Northwestern director of player development] and now all of the sudden I'm back home. I was able to bring my family over to see me kind of walk around and see a couple pictures of me. My kids have never really seen me play, but to see pictures up and now they're excited and it was an easy transition.”
Head coach Mike Brey keeps in close contact with his former players, so it didn’t take long for Humphrey and Ayers to officially join the program.
“It was a situation where me and Coach Brey were in contact all year,” Humphrey said. “That's something I've tried to do is always congratulate him or pick his brains throughout the year to try and be a better coach. He's always been a mentor to me, so we had an open line of communication. I thought it was just another one of our many talks that we had had prior to this and he said, 'I've got some movement and let's be in contact.' I didn't have any idea it would transpire as fast as it did.”
Ayers quipped that Brey is the same man as he when he coached the new Irish assistant, except for the noticeable lack of mock turtlenecks these days.
“I knew it was something when I was done playing that I'd like to get into coaching,” said Ayers, who spent the last two seasons as a Bucknell assistant. “I love teaching the game and being a part of it and teaching young people develop their game and I've been ingrained in that since I was a kid with my father. I come from a teaching family and that's something I've always wanted to do.”
While Humphrey and Ayers get settled in South Bend, they will be kept busy with team workouts and the summer recruiting circuit.
“This is my home,” Humphrey said. “It's a situation where when I get to go out and recruit, I get to talk to my younger self. Everything I was able to do and accomplish here, I feel like I'm blessed and fortunate that I'll be able to instill that and hopefully help the next Ryan Humphrey or the next young man coming along because I feel I've been blessed to not only graduate, be a first round pick and have a semi-successful career overseas. I've been all over the world. If I can do it, you can too.”
Although this is Humphrey’s first assistant coaching role, he believes he is ready to immediately succeed on the recruiting trail.
“I have [reached out to people for advice], but I would put my playing career up against anybody else's as far as recruiting,” he said. “Would you rather learn from someone that's done it and lived it and been able to play for Hubie Brown, Doc Rivers? I played for those guys. Mike Fratello. I've had up-close and personal conversations with Doug Collins. I've played for Olympic coaches. I don't think a lot of people out there recruiting can say they have that value. There's not a place where they dribble a basketball that I don't have a connection with.”
For Ayers, it represents the fulfillment of a dream he envisioned during his playing career.
“It's something I've always kind of wanted to do,” he said. “I'm looking forward to putting an 'ND' on my chest and being out there watching kids. I think it's the best university in the country. I'm biased having a degree from here, but if you want excellence in academics and spiritually and on the basketball court, it's the best university.”