Brey's mentor Wootten retires
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
When Mike Brey received a phone call from legendary DeMatha High coach Morgan Wootten Tuesday night, the Irish head coach wasn't surprised to hear his longtime mentor say he was hanging up his whistle.
"I spoke to him a lot over the past two weeks, and I think he feels good about it," Brey said. "I think he was 90 percent of the way there this summer, and he finally made his decision in the past couple of weeks."
The 71-year-old Wootten, who announced his retirement from coaching after a 46-season career Wednesday, coached Brey in high school and gave him his first coaching job as an assistant at DeMatha in 1982. When Brey left DeMatha in 1987 to work at Duke, he kept in constant contact with Wootten.
"Certainly, he has meant a lot to me," Brey said. "I'm not in South Bend, Ind., if it wasn't for his impact on my life at a very young age and back through my early years of coaching. I was spoiled, having my first coaching job with him."
Wootten is only one of three prep coaches to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He never had a losing season, compiled a 1,274-192 record and coached seven teams that were voted national champions.
Wootten turned down numerous college coaching jobs, choosing instead to stay at the high school level. Among the NBA players he coached in high school included Adrian Dantley, Kenny Carr, Danny Ferry, Sidney Lowe and Adrian Branch.
Since 1977, the coach also served as chairman of the McDonald's All-American Game selection committee, which features the top high school talent in the nation.
Brey and Wootten have kept in contact throughout the years. Wootten and his wife visited Brey in South Bend last summer and Wootten watched Notre Dame's quadruple-overtime victory over Georgetown last winter.
"He's a legend, a Hall of Famer," Brey said. "When you think about him, you think about [John] Wooden and Dean Smith. That's his company."
Injured Irish
A day after injuring his ankle early in a scrimmage, Jordan Cornette hobbled around the hallways of the Joyce Center Wednesday afternoon on crutches.
Brey remained optimistic that Cornette would be able to play in Notre Dame's exhibition Monday.
"If he's not ready Monday, I know what Jordan can do," Brey said. "He's a veteran, he'll do fine."
While Cornette sat out most of Tuesday's scrimmage, the Irish welcomed Jere Macura back to the practice court.
Macura missed Notre Dame's exhibition last Friday after Cornette fell on his knee, prompting Brey to compare the injury to one suffered last year when Harold Swanagan fell on Tom Timmermans.
Then, Timmermans had to miss two months. Brey was glad Macura is already back in the lineup.
"I don't think he's 100 percent yet, he's not quite jumping, but he's moving," Brey said. "Having him back is always a good thing."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, November 7, 2002
