Indiana Coach Search: The Ultimate Program Architect, Scott Drew Built Baylor From The Ground Up
To understand the job that Scott Drew has done at Baylor, you have to examine what Baylor basketball was like before he took over in 2003.
Prior to that, Baylor had one 20-win season from 1948-2003. Baylor’s program was a national embarrassment when Drew took over after his predecessor Dave Bliss resigned in the wake of several scandals, including an instance where Bliss encouraged players to fabricate a story for investigators that a murdered Baylor player was a drug dealer.
An average program in the first place, Baylor was at rock bottom when Drew arrived after coaching one season at alma mater Valparaiso. During the 2005-06 season, due to the NCAA fallout from the Bliss scandal, Baylor only played Big 12 Conference games.
Twenty-two years, 462 wins, 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and one national title later, Drew has made Baylor college basketball royalty.
What Makes Drew An Attractive Choice
Drew knows how to coach offense. Since 2003, Drew has had Baylor in the top 20 in Kenpom.com’s offensive efficiency ratings 12 times, including the current season.
Baylor has not averaged less than 70 points per season since 2015. When the Bears won the national championship in 2021, they averaged 82.9 points.
Drew can also recruit. Until he won his national championship, he had the reputation of being a coach who could bring talent to Baylor, but couldn’t get that talent to win at a championship level.
Drew knows the state of Indiana and would be attractive to in-state coaches and recruits.
There is very little drama on the personal front. Drew is a family man and has a squeaky clean reputation off the court.
What Are Drawbacks With Drew
Drew got into NCAA trouble in 2012 when both the men’s and women’s basketball programs were placed on three years probation.
There was an attempt by one of Baylor’s assistant coaches to influence AAU coaches to mislead the NCAA investigation, and he was caught. Drew was suspended for the first two games of the 2012-13 season, and Baylor had scholarship restrictions in the mid-2010s.
Since the national title in 2021, Baylor has not advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Baylor has been more aggressive in the transfer portal in recent years, but it’s fair to wonder whether Drew can adapt to the new reality of roster churn and transfer portal recruitment.
The biggest drawback is actually a career highlight – his longevity at Baylor. Drew has resisted efforts to woo him from Baylor for a decade or more. He is tied with Kansas coach Bill Self as the seventh-longest tenured Division I coach at his current school.
Would Indiana be the school to pry Drew away from Baylor? Indiana has some advantages. Drew grew up in Indiana, though he has no direct link to Indiana University. He would be familiar with how rabid Indiana fans are and the possibilities of the job.
On the other hand, for a long-time coach, Drew is not old. He is 54 and would have plenty of mileage in his coaching career assuming he continued his success.
Is It Realistic To Expect Drew To Take The Indiana Job?
Drew gets mentioned frequently when big jobs become open. He was supposedly considered by both Kentucky and Louisville during the 2024 offseason, but he stuck with Baylor – even with big money offered to leave.
“I am locked in on Baylor University. Baylor is my home and my family’s home,” Drew told the Baylor radio affiliate in 2024.
Anything is possible in a coaching search, so never say never, but when Drew heads to work in Waco, Texas? He sees a new arena (Foster Pavilion) that opened in January 2024. Nearly all of the banners in that arena stand sentinel to his accomplishments. It is rare for a coach to truly build a program from the ground up. Drew is one of the very few active coaches who can make that claim.
Would he leave that all behind? It seems unlikely. Drew could do well at Indiana, but he has a legacy he’s built and can protect at Baylor. It would be hard to walk away from that.
