After a stunning 72–69 loss to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, Micah Shrewsberry absorbed every ounce of blame and canceled Christmas in the process.
There will be no eggnog. No background carols.
The holidays will arrive at the Shrewsberry household with a whistle, a film session, and a head coach channeling his inner Grinch.
“It ruined my Christmas,” Shrewsberry said. “There ain’t no Christmas in my house.”
The line landed somewhere between humor and heat, mostly because it wasn’t delivered as a joke. Shrewsberry wasn’t searching for levity. He was irritated. And he made no attempt to soften a loss he believed was earned.
MORE: Shedeur Sanders speaks with the weight of a quarterback already grown
“Every bit of praise that we’ve received, every bit of criticism is justified today,” he said.
The frustration didn’t begin at the final horn. In Shrewsberry’s telling, the warning signs surfaced days earlier. Finals disrupted the rhythm. Practice felt uneven. A competitive drill on Friday ended with the non-starters shutting out the starters 19–0.
“That showed me we weren’t locked in where we needed to be,” he said. “Total lack of leadership. And that starts with me.”
Accountability never drifted. When asked about leadership on the floor, Shrewsberry redirected it back to himself. Preparation. Readiness. Urgency. He framed the loss as a coaching failure first, not a player failure disguised as honesty.
The reasons were simple enough to list. Fifteen turnovers. Some forced. Too many self-inflicted.
“We were stepping out of bounds,” he said. “That’s basic stuff. You can’t survive that.”
If this were a holiday movie, this is where the montage would start. Film replacing wrapping paper. Scouting reports instead of stockings. Shrewsberry made it clear the response would be immediate.
“I’m going to watch this film,” he said. “I’m going to figure out how we’re better. We gave one up. Now we’ve got to go get it back.”
And for Shrewsberry, accountability isn’t abstract. One son, Braeden, is already on the roster. Another, Nick, is committed to join the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next season. At home, he’s also a father to two daughters, which gives the idea of canceling Christmas a slightly different tone.
The coach, however, is not in a festive mood. Christmas can wait. The response cannot.
More college sports news:
- Miami superfan Abella Danger teases ‘quite informative’ reason for cheering on Canes in CFP
- Kane Wommack says Alabama’s culture showed itself when the punches came
- Former LSU star Livvy Dunne reveals her ambitions for the big screen
- Three Clemson defenders projected as first round picks in latest CBS Sports NFL mock draft