This is the third in a series of profiles of potential candidates for Indiana’s open basketball head coaching position.
Candidate: Scott Drew
Age: 54
Current position, tenure: Baylor head coach since 2003
Previous Jobs: Valparaiso head coach 2002-03; Valparaiso assistant coach 1993-02
Accomplishments: Drew orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds in college sports history at Baylor. He took over a program awash with scandal and facing NCAA sanctions, and the Bears didn’t have a particularly bright history aside from that. But Drew led them out of those doldrums, turned them into a perennial contender, and reached the mountaintop with them by capturing the 2021 national title. He owns a 463-254 overall record at Baylor as of Tuesday, and a 197-180 Big 12 record. He’s won games in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, and he’s reached the Big Dance in 10 of the last 12 seasons with a tournament. 2021 was Drew’s lone Final Four at Baylor, but he’s taken the Bears to two Elite Eights and two Sweet 16s.
Why it might work: Drew has some familiarity with the state, with his 10 years at Valparaiso as assistant coach and one as head coach. He also attended Butler in the early 1990s, and his father, Homer, coached in northern Indiana from the time Scott was six years old. He may not have the sort of close connection to IU and Bloomington that Dusty May does, but he is linked to basketball in the state of Indiana.
Baylor has been extremely successful under Drew. His rebuild in Waco took four years, but since then, he’s stacked up a 427-185 record as of Tuesday. In the 17 seasons since those first four at Baylor, the Bears have reached 12 NCAA Tournaments — IU has reached just seven in that same span. Drew missed a chance at further success in 2020, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled, as the Bears — ranked No. 4 in the last AP Poll that year — were one of the best teams in the country that season.
Drew is one of only six active college coaches who have won a national title, so he knows what it takes to get there. But it’s the consistency that should attract Indiana more than anything. After his rebuilding years at Baylor, Drew finished only two seasons with fewer than 20 wins — and he’s well on his way to reaching that plateau again this year. Perhaps more impressively: since 2013, Baylor’s lowest final KenPom ranking was No. 35. Mixing that level of consistency in a power conference, with NCAA Tournament success, is exactly what Indiana should want in its next head coach.
Why it might not work or happen: Drew has had plenty of opportunities to leave Waco over the years, and he’s remained loyal to Baylor. He was strongly linked with the Kentucky opening last offseason — the Wildcats clearly pursued him, but he ultimately turned down the job. That decision raises a reasonable question as to whether any job would pry Drew away from the Bears.
Baylor did also have some recruiting violations under Drew in 2012, which led to his suspension for two Big 12 games. It’s been over a decade since then, and his infractions weren’t as severe as Kelvin Sampson’s transgressions at Oklahoma prior to his taking the IU job. But given everything the Hoosiers went through with Sampson, it’s fair to ask whether they’d risk going down that road again.
Previous profiles:
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