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Examining Notre Dame's Assistant Coaching Candidates

With the (still unofficial) hiring of former Notre Dame star Ryan Humphrey (link) to fill the first of two assistant coaching voids on his staff, Irish head coach Mike Brey will look to hire his final assistant from a narrow pool of options.

Blue & Gold Illustrated has a look at some of the candidates.

Mike Brey will look to fill his second assistant spot from a pool of former captains.
Mike Brey will look to fill his second assistant spot from a pool of former captains.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Harold Swanagan

· Irish playing career: 1998-02

· Player accolades: Served as a tri-captain during his senior season (2001-02) and averaged 8.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, leading the Irish to a 22-11 overall record and 10-6 record in the Big East.

Notre Dame advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament his senior year, defeating Charlotte 82-63 in the opening round before falling 84-77 to top-seeded Duke in the second.

Additionally, the Irish won their first Big East regular season championship Swanagan's junior year.

· Coaching trail: Served as coordinator of basketball operations at Notre Dame since July 2009.

· Quoteable: "He was a great captain and leader for us as a player, and always was a guy who put the team first. I am thrilled to have Swanny back with us.” - Brey said of Swanagan's hiring in 2009.


Chris Quinn

· Irish playing career: 2002-06

· Player accolades: Started for three seasons and was named a captain for his junior and senior campaigns. Quinn was selected first-team All-Big East in 2005-06 after averaging 17.7 points, 6.4 assists and 1.55 steals per game.

He wasn't picked in the 2006 NBA Draft, but signed a contract with the Miami Heat and played 42 games in his first season. He stayed with the club until he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in January 2010, then bounced around to a few different NBA and overseas clubs before he was waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers in July 2013.

· Coaching trail: Hired as Northwestern's Director of Player Development in October 2013, then was hired by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra as an assistant coach in September 2014.

· Quoteable: "When he was here, we always thought Quinny would be a coach - somebody who would work around the game, maybe even be in management one day.

"When Coach brought it to my attention that he was thinking about it, I was very pro Quinny in him coming back. He's only 31, but you've got to use the NBA platform to move to the next phase of his life. I'm very happy for him that he can start at a young age." - Heat guard Dwayne Wade on Quinn's hire in Oct. 2014 (link).


Ryan Ayers

· Irish playing career: 2005-09

· Player accolades: Named a captain as a senior in 2008-09, and averaged 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in that campaign.

Ayers 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.

He's the son of Randy Ayers, who served as Ohio State head coach from 1989-1997 and has held several assistant coaching stints in the NBA. The elder Ayers was also head coach of the Philadelphia 76'ers in 2003.

· Coaching trail: Served as an assistant coach at Bucknell since Nov. 2014.

· Quoteable: "I am thrilled and excited to have Ryan Ayers join our staff. He is such an impressive person, and I have tremendous respect for the Ayers family.

"Ryan has such great charisma and personality. Not only does he bring great experience as a player at Notre Dame and in the pro ranks, but he also distinguished himself as a student-athlete at Notre Dame. He is going to be a great mentor to our guys in a lot of different areas, and he brings with him some good recruiting contacts from key areas.” - Bucknell head coach Dave Paulsen on Ayer's hiring in Nov. 2014.


Tory Jackson

· Irish playing career: 2006-10

· Player accolades: Played in 136 total games over his four-year career. He was named a captain as a senior in 2009-10, and averaged 9.6 points and 5.3 assists per game for the Irish in that campaign.

· Coaching trail: Served as head coach at Buena Vista High in Saginaw, Mich., in 2012-13, leading his squad to a 16-8 overall record. He was then hired as an assistant coach at Northwood University, a Division II school, in August 2013.

According to an MLive.com article from Feb. 2016, he left that job to play briefly in Mongolia, and now works at Arthur Hill Middle School and Thompson Middle School while training kids during the week.

· Quoteable: "Coaching is what I really want to do as far as my career. I played like I wanted to be a coach when I got to college.

"I loved Mike Brey's coaching style. He let me take over a lot. I talked to him in my junior year about what I wanted to do. I enjoyed getting everybody together and putting people in position to win. He said he played the same way coming up." - Jackson to Mlive.com in February.


Ben Hansbrough

· Irish playing career: Played from 2009-11 after transferring from Mississippi State.

· Player accolades: Named a captain in 2010-11 and earned unanimous first team All-Big East honors that season, as well as Big East Player of the Year and second team All-American honors after averaging 18.4 points per game for the Irish.

Notre Dame entered the NCAA tournament that year boasting a 26-6 overall record, and beat Akron 69-56 in the opening round before falling 71-57 to Florida State in the second.

Professionally, Hansbrough spent 2011-15 mostly overseas, but did play in the 2012-13 season for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.

· Coaching trail: Was hired in August. 2015 as Director of Player Development at Western Kentucky.

· Quoteable: “He’s going to be terrific in this business. You never know when you hire a guy that’s played in the NBA – do they feel entitled? Work ethic? But he has all the ingredients to be a real, real good one in this business.” - Former Western Kentucky head coach Ray Harper on Hansbrough (link).

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