Notre Dame coach Mike Brey reveals mother died hours before OT win over Butler

Published Mar. 22, 2015 1:01 a.m. ET

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Notre Dame coach Mike Brey's calls to his mother Betty during the season focused little on her son's well-being and more on the state of his team.

"Very rarely did I get `Hey, Mike, how you doing?'" Brey said. "It's like `Have you got them ready? Are they ready? I think we can beat Duke, Mike.' It's unbelievable. She was intense."

It came with the territory for Betty Brey Mullen, an Olympic swimmer who briefly held a butterfly world record and instilled in her three children the tenacity they carry with them. Brey relied on it heavily on Saturday night, guiding the Irish to a thrilling 67-64 win over in-state rival Butler in the NCAA Tournament and a spot in the Sweet 16.

Brey took the floor just hours after Betty died in Florida at the age of 84 following a heart attack. If Brey is being honest, he still was in shock at tip-off but responded by doing what he's done since he slipped out of swimming practice for basketball camp when he was 9: he hung in there.

"It was kind of a tribute to her," Brey said. "It was really a special night."

One that ended with the surging Irish (31-5) in the regional semifinals for the first time since 2003.

The Irish weren't informed of Brey's loss until after the game.

"The strength he has to go through something like that without mentioning it, or acting like it, he hasn't skipped a beat,'' senior Pat Connaughton said. "He's been here for us countless times and I hope he knows that this team is with him.''

While Notre Dame rejoiced in the locker room, its coach made plans to travel to Florida on Sunday — his 56th birthday — to celebrate his mother's life and watch Wichita State and Kansas play. The winner faces the Irish on Thursday in Cleveland.

Brey called his mother, a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team and later a swim coach at George Washington University, "an unbelievable woman, a woman ahead of her time and probably the real driving force behind everything I've done."

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