Scott Drew

Scott Homer Drew (born October 23, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of Baylor University Bears men's basketball team.

Valparaiso

Drew graduated from Butler University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts. While at Butler he was a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.^[2] Although he never played high school basketball at the varsity level, Drew spent two years as a student assistant for the men's basketball team.

Afterwards, Drew assumed an assistant coaching position with the Valparaiso University Crusaders men's team under his father Homer Drew. He spent nine years in this position, during which he earned a master's degree from Valparaiso and a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the nation. Once the elder Drew retired, he became the team's head coach for one year. In that year, Valparaiso won the regular season conference championship, but lost to IUPUI in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament, thus losing the bid to the NCAA tournament. However, the team proceeded to earn an NIT bid. When Drew went to Baylor, his father came out of retirement to coach Valpo.

Baylor

On August 22, 2003, Drew took the head coaching position of the men's team at Baylor University after the resignation of Dave Bliss due to scandal. Drew took over the team in August, unusually late for a coaching change, and most of Baylor's top players from the previous year had chosen to transfer.

Drew took over a program left in a shambles as a result of the scandal. Besides losing most of its top players, the program was put on probation until 2010, and had paid scholarships and paid recruiting visits reduced until 2007. Post season play was also cancelled for the 2003–04 season, and only conference games were permitted for the 2005–06 season. With these handicaps, Drew led the Bears to an 8–21 record in the 2003–04 season, 9–19 in the 2004–05 season, and 4–13 in the conference-only 2005–06 season.

In the 2007–08 season, Drew turned around his Bears to finish with a 21–9 regular season record and 9–7 Big 12 record, and rank 4th in the Big 12. The 21 wins and 9 conference wins were Baylor's best since joining the Big 12 in 1996. It was enough to make the NCAA Tournament for only the fifth time in school history and the first time since 1988. At the end of the regular season, when Drew made an appearance on the sports show PTI, host Tony Kornheiser suggested on the air that Drew be voted "unanimous coach of the year". After the season, Drew signed a 10-year contract extension to stay the head coach of the Bears.

Prior to the 2008–09 season, a Rivals.com writer called Drew the Big 12 "coach on the rise", due to Drew's success in recruiting talent to Baylor.The Big 12 coaches picked Drew's squad to finish fourth in the conference.^[3]

In 2010, after finishing tied for second in the Big 12 with a squad picked to finish tenth in the preseason poll, Scott Drew was elected the Austin American Statesman's Coach of the Year. That year he went on to beat the Longhorns three straight times.^[4] He went on in the same year to enjoy a NCAA Sweet 16 berth, making him and his father Homer Drew one of the few father and son coaches to accomplish such feat. Then he made an Elite 8 appearance eventually losing to the national championship-winning Duke Blue Devils.

In 2011, Drew led Baylor to an 18–13 overall record and a seventh-place finish in the Big 12. In the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, Baylor lost to the 14–17 Oklahoma Sooners, 84–67. Hours before the game, Baylor was informed that star player Perry Jones III would not be allowed to play, which was later admitted to be a mistake after national outrage against the NCAA.

Baylor was expected to be even more improved in 2011–12. The Bears started the season 17–0 and rose to third in the AP Poll and the coaches' poll—the highest weekly rankings in school history. However Baylor finished on a 13-8 run in their last 21 games and finished in a tie for third in the Big 12. In the NCAA Tournament, an Elite Eight loss to Kentucky marked the second time in three seasons that the Bears' season ended at the hands of the eventual national champions. During the 2012–13 season, Baylor failed to get an invitation back to the NCAA Tournament, but accepted a bid to the NIT. They would later go on to win it.

Personal life

Drew is a Christian. Drew has spoken about his faith saying, "We may not win another game this year, and I may be a horrible coach, but if any of these guys leave without knowing Christ, that will be the real loss."^[5]

Head coaching record

References