Mike Brey still remembers a reporter's question after Notre Dame hired him in 2000 as its basketball coach.

"First question was, 'Is this a job you want to stay at? If you get it going, are you going to leave?' " Brey recalled. "My answer was, 'My god, first of all, I want to do well enough to not get fired.' But, boy, if this could be your last coaching job, it would be awesome."

The program was searching for footing after Matt Doherty's quick departure for North Carolina after one season in South Bend. Many wondered if the Irish also would serve as a stepping-stone for Brey, a former Duke assistant and head coach at Delaware considered an up-and-comer in the industry at age 41.

When reporters stopped by his office, he would take his Duke championship rings from his desk drawer and jokingly offer them away, a shtick to show he wanted to win his own with the Irish.

Brey has since become a cornerstone not only in Notre Dame athletics, but also in college basketball. When he took over, the Irish hadn't been to an NCAA Tournament in a decade. Tumbleweeds would have looked appropriate rolling through the Joyce Center, with many of its multicolored, 1970s-style cushioned seats wrapped in duct tape.

Brey, the self-described "loosest coach in America," infused the Irish with new energy and success. They have been to 12 NCAA Tournaments in his tenure, advancing to the Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016 and winning the 2015 ACC tournament in just their second season of membership.

With a victory Saturday against Georgia Tech, Brey would match Irish hoops icon Digger Phelps (1971-91) with 393 wins at Notre Dame. Two more victories will cement his legacy as the winningest coach in program history.

"I just thought it was a destination place," said Brey, 58, who called Phelps a "good friend." "It was one of those things where, if you can get it going, it's one of those places you can retire at. It's really played out that way. It's humbling."

In an era of cynicism in college basketball, especially amid an FBI investigation into several major programs for bribery and other corruption charges, Brey provides an antidote of happiness. In an impromptu moment after the Irish won the Maui Invitational in November, a shirtless Brey jubilantly bounded into the locker room with a lei around his neck and flexed for his players.

Is anyone in America having a better time at work?

"He's the ultimate ambassador for the sport, and for us," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said. "I can't tell you the number of people I hear from (saying), 'Hey, I love what your coach does,' or, 'I wish more coaches were like him.' In the current debate about what's going on in college athletics, and college basketball in particular, he has never been seen as more of a representative of how it should be done."

At Notre Dame, which has an alumni base permanently anxiety-ridden over football and known as a bit of a wine-and-cheese crowd, Brey has become like a favorite Irish uncle you can grab a pint with.

He built success in South Bend by recruiting under-the-radar players from winning high school programs and developing them into four-year mainstays. His buoyant persona serves to lighten up players Brey says are naturally self-critical because of their pedigree.

"He's never been a yeller or screamer. They know he has their back," said Rod Balanis, a Notre Dame assistant for all 18 of Brey's seasons who played for DeMatha High School in Maryland when Brey was an assistant there. "Mike's just comfortable in his own skin. 'If I get these guys to trust me and to believe in me, we can do some things.' That formula has worked for him."

Proof lies in the four former Irish players on his current staff.

"We got our energy from him," said first-year Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby, who played point guard for Brey as a Notre Dame senior in 2000-01 and worked as his assistant from 2003 to 2016. "One day it would be an intense, hard practice; the next day it would be a shooting game or competition. Day before a game, you're shooting half-court shots and Mike's out there shooting them with you. It wasn't a dictatorship."

From his wardrobe to his pep talks, Brey is unlike most tightly wound college coaches.

"I just don't have that mean look," he said. "As coaches we take ourselves a little too seriously. We all could just take a couple deep breaths. Relax a little bit."

Brey wears a tie only "for funerals and players' weddings," he said, his sideline style the foil to suave Villanova coach Jay Wright. His game-day fashion choices – from mock turtlenecks to T-shirts and shorts – are designed for comfort.

An unexpected rocky 8-5 start in Brey's first season had players on edge. He intentionally left his fly slightly down (but remaining covered up) during a pregame talk. Teenage players giggled, then went out and beat Pittsburgh by 16 points, starting an eight-game winning streak en route to an NCAA tournament bid.

When Brey recruited Tory Jackson, he was the only coach to visit Jackson outside of a gym or office. At Jackson's sister's home in South Saginaw, Mich., Brey ate soul food with a large extended family. At one point, Jackson thought Brey had left, then realized he had been on the couch yukking it up with Jackson's relatives.

"It was a rough part (of town)," said Jackson, an Irish point guard from 2006 to 2010 who finished his career ninth on the Big East's assists list. "Coach Brey didn't care where we were. He was coming to see me. He was one of us. He was comfortable. He wasn't above anybody. He didn't say, 'Oh, you're going to the NBA and making millions (if you come to Notre Dame).' He said, 'You can come start something different.' "

Brey is conscious of not embarrassing players by ridiculing them in front of fans or television audiences. His flowing offense is predicated on freedom and trust, and he never benches a starter to send a message.

Assistants recall Brey's scowl when they yell out offensive plays on the sideline.

"He wants guys to use whatever skill set they have and he doesn't want us to overcoach them," said Gene Cross, an Irish assistant from 2006 to '08. "If we were yelling things out on the sideline offensively, he would turn to us and give the most evil eye and tell us to shut the hell up and let these guys play. It was really simple, easy, free-flowing and allowing guys to be creative."

As important as his own demeanor, Brey has compiled video clips to show players when they're demonstrating too much negative body language or showing up their teammates.

During timeouts when the Irish are trailing and make a basket or two, Brey smiles and claps and says with casual conviction: "Do you guys feel that? Can't you feel that momentum turning? Feels good, doesn't it?" Take a five-overtime victory against Louisville in 2013, in which Rick Pitino's grimace grew tighter with each extra period while Brey laughed and told his players he wanted another one.

"If there was an X's-and-O's contest on the blackboard or whatever, I don't know if he's a top-10 guy," said Sean Kearney, a Brey assistant for 13 seasons at Delaware and Notre Dame and now an assistant at Colorado. "But if there's a top 10 for building trust, giving and gaining confidence, communicating with staff and players, he's absolutely on top."

That rapport with players prompted Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to hire Brey as an assistant in 1987. He remained with the Blue Devils for eight seasons that included six Final Fours and two national titles.

"He was so good with the kids," Krzyzewski said. "Everyone would say he's a genuine guy. He's not trying to play any angles. It's not how he can make the most of it for himself. He's a guys' guy and a great coach. That's a heck of a combination."

Assistant coaches over the years begged Brey to get tougher on players. But Brey learned from his mentor, DeMatha coach Morgan Wootten, for whom he played and later served as an assistant while also working as a junior varsity coach, teaching U.S. history and supervising study halls.

"We would work for Coach Wootten's camps in the summer," Brey recalled. "He'd say, 'Be the kind of coach you would want your own son and daughter to play for.' I really try to live by that. It's a really simple, corny thing Coach used to say, and it's awesome."

While the lack of a Final Four appearance remains a blemish on Brey's record, he brushes off the idea that being harder on players would propel the Irish to greater success.

"I pick my spots," he said. "But that's not how I coach. I've prided myself in teaching and encouraging. We'll challenge guys. We don't sugarcoat it. But it takes a lot of energy to be a pain in the ass for five months. Maybe for some guys, it's natural. Not me."

Lest anyone think Brey doesn't have a fiery side, he was ejected from a game against St. Francis this month for erupting at officials. He has told assistants before practices he plans to kick players out in premeditated mock outrage when he thinks they need a jolt.

Brey conceded he also occasionally fakes his worry-free aura.

"Inside, I can be a knot many times. But outwardly I've got to be (laughing and clapping): 'Hey, we're all right. No problem,' " he said. "I ingest it. I don't want the staff upset. I don't want this place to be a morgue. Some (coaches) have everyone walking on eggshells. Personally, I try to take the bullets."

He has learned to handle that better over the years, turning off his phone during summer trips to his house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and taking half-hour morning swims for solitude during the season.

A contract that runs through 2021-22 helps ease the pressure too.

Brey's understanding of – and patience with – the pecking order in Notre Dame athletics has paid off. The Purcell Pavilion opened in 2009 as part of a $26.3 million Joyce Center upgrade. (Brey keeps one of those green duct-taped chairs in his living room. "I want to remember where I came from," he said.)

Construction begins next month on a long-awaited practice facility as teams have practiced for decades in a basement gym known as "The Pit."

"It's not like I said, 'If we don't have this, I'm taking this other job,' " Brey said. "It was, 'Let's keep working together.' "

Brey is almost as strongly linked to the student body as his players.

He judges dorm Christmas light competitions, has been known to knock on students' doors at 10 p.m. to invite them to games and has played drums and crowd-surfed at football pep rallies. His administrative assistant asked him last year to cut back on campus appearances, but Brey declined.

"They need to see their guy," he said.

The Irish (10-3) have been ranked as high as No. 5 this season but have taken some perplexing lumps with recent losses to Ball State and Indiana. But Brey isn't stressed about that or his imminent milestone wins.

At least he's not showing it.

"You wanted to stay here awhile and you wanted to not get fired," he said. "I'm a little amazed to become the all-time winningest guy. It'll be powerful. Even if it's in the midst of the ACC (season), we're not going to watch film on the next team that night. We're going to go out and celebrate."