Just days after the surprising departure of former head coach John Calipari, who leaves Lexington to head to Fayetteville to coach the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, the University of Kentucky moved quickly to narrow their coaching search to just one initial candidate. And the one candidate the Wildcats had closed in on was someone who knows both how to win a championship, and how to raise a program from its ashes.
Baylor Bears head coach Scott Drew is one of the longest-tenured coaches in the NCAA. For 20 years, Drew has been the man in charge at Baylor. He oversaw the rebirth of the Baylor Bears basketball program, helping the school come out of the darkest period in program history at the time of his arrival, and less than two decades later, winning the program's first National Title. Even though Drew is by far the most successful coach in program history, the idea that he'd eventually leave Waco, Texas has been one that was long assumed to be a foregone conclusion. And as soon as the Kentucky job opened up, Drew was considered the most likely candidate to replace John Calipari.
As early as this morning, the assumption was that Drew would be the next head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. But things have now changed, and you know what they say about what happens when you assume something…
… CBS Sports' Matt Norlander makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”
Scott Drew decided to stay in Waco and at Baylor, per a report from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
‘BREAKING: Scott Drew has passed on Kentucky’s offer and will remain at Baylor, source tells CBSSports.'
Given the illustrious history of the University of Kentucky men's basketball program, one would expect that the offer that Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart was an attractive one that would give Drew a chance to build a coaching legacy in a way that perhaps isn't a possibility at Baylor. But the prestige of a program such as Kentucky wasn't enough to lure Drew away from the place he and his family have called home for the last 22 years, per Jeff Goodman.
‘One of the main reasons why Scott Drew passed on Kentucky, per source, is that his family didn’t want to leave Baylor and Waco. Drew has three kids – college and high-school age — and they have grown up their entire lives in Waco.'
Drew also released a statement on X after the news broke:
“We truly believe God has called my family and I to continue our work here at Baylor, surrounded by the best people and community anyone could be blessed to have…And we look forward to working together to bring more championships to Waco.”
What Scott Drew has done at Baylor
Scott Drew took over the Baylor Bears basketball program in 2003 in the aftermath of the murder of forward Patrick Dennehy at the hands of teammate Carlton Dotson, and if that weren't enough for Drew to deal with, the murder of Dennehy led the NCAA to open an investigation into the program, and what they found was damning. The result was Baylor being placed on probation and the program being severely restricted when it came to recruiting high school prospects and potentially signing them to scholarships. But throughout the entire ordeal, Scott Drew continued to prove he was the right man for the job.
“I'm more encouraged than when I first got here,” Drew said in February 2004, after the school sent their report of major program violations to the NCAA, per Jim Vertuno of The Associated Press. “The community and this school have been so supportive of this team it just makes you want to work harder.”
Drew kept his promise and continued to work hard, and by 2008 he had led the program to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in twenty years. Baylor would go on to appear in seven of the next eleven NCAA Tournaments, and finally, in 2021, the Baylor Bears capped off what was undoubtedly the best season in program history, knocking off the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs in the National Championship Game, cutting down the nets for the first time in program history.
— Baylor Athletics (@BaylorAthletics) April 11, 2024
Since Baylor won the National Title three years ago, they haven't advanced beyond the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, but you won't soon find anyone within Baylor University looking to move on from Scott Drew. In fact, the school appears to be fully behind the man who saved their basketball program from two-plus decades of irrelevancy.
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