Scott Drew, Baylor Bears Men's Basketball Head Coach

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Get a wedding suit as unique as you with Indochino. Go to Indochino.com and use code PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more. That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code PODCAST. We continue it as the Zach Gilp Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. My next guest has been the head coach of the Baylor Bears with their men's basketball team since 2003. He cut down the nets, winning it all in 2021 in the NCAA tournament. And now he's the recipient of the 2023 Athletes in Action John Wooden Keys to Life Award.

For more information, visit keystolife.us. And that is the head coach of Baylor in Scott Drew. Coach, first off, congratulations. Appreciate the time.

How are you? Well, thank you very much. It's great to be on your show. And I got a question for you. Do you like Della Sandro's or Chubby's Philly Cheese Steak better?

Wow, you did some preparation. I'm a Della Sandro's guy, so that's why I'm asking. Well, I know the owners of Della Sandro's, so I'm a Della Sandro's guy. Della Sandro's, okay.

Unbiasedly, Della Sandro's is the better cheese steak. How about that, coach? Doing a lot of research from my college days back when I was at Temple Owl. Hey, by the way, what's your best Matt Ruhl story before we go on?

Wow. So you know a lot about me then. My best Matt Ruhl story. Yeah, I love Matt Ruhl.

You know what? Probably when I was at a practice of his, he did like these 5.30 a.m. Coach Cheney style type of practices. And coach, I'll be honest with you, I was probably hungover coming out of my fraternity house, waking up early to go to this practice. And he said to me, you have to watch Hassan Redick, 58.

I had no clue the heck he was. And now we all know what Hassan Redick's gone on to do in the NFL. Yeah, I can tell you that's impressive. You were there for the 5.30 practice.

I think I would have showed up a little late after stretching. As a college student, I don't know how the players ended up navigating through those practices. So Coach Ruhl has done a great job there and everywhere he's been. Well, Coach, what does this mean to you? Obviously, we all know the importance that Coach John Wooden has had on this sport to win this award named after him.

What does it mean to you? Well, first of all, anytime you have your name associated with Coach Wooden, you know it's a great honor and you're extremely humbled and grateful. At the same time, we call them team awards at Baylor because we know that it takes a team to win. You have to have great coaches, great staff, administration, and obviously players. So very, very excited about that.

And I love what the breakfast is about and what the whole event stands for. When you look back at this season, I know you guys wanted to obviously go further in the NCAA tour and you're just coming off the loss to Creighton, which has been an exceptional basketball team. How do you kind of reflect on this season that you guys just had? Well, you know in the NCAA tournament, everybody is upset except for one team. And we've been blessed to be that one team and that's a heck of a feeling.

At the same time, every tournament there's highs and there's lows. And with us, we played a good first game. Second game, Creighton beat us. So you look back on the year, we were the ninth overall seed. Going into the year, we were the winningest Power Five program in the country in the last three years.

I think we might be first or second now. And then one of three or four teams to be a top three seed in the last three or four years. So a lot of consistency. Come tournament time, anything can happen and that's why it's called March Madness. If they wanted the best teams to win, it'd be three out of five or four out of seven. But in a one-game, 40-minute time period with 18 to 23-year-olds, you don't know what's going to happen.

So you want to be at your best. Creighton was better than us. They set an NCAA record 22 free throws in a row. Tied the record with Fordham in 1971. So the record was good enough to stand for over 50 years. So they really played well and earned the victory and Coach McDermott does a great job.

Mike, you said you've been on both sides of it. You've had the highest of highs in this sport, winning the NCAA championship a few years ago. And you guys just had a dominant run all these years later, Coach Scott Drew. But what's the lasting memory that you always hold on to with that group of guys that you won a championship with? Well, just being able to celebrate with them, not just the championship game, but the whole time in the bubble. I mean, we're the only team to ever win the NCAA tournament in a bubble.

So we got the blueprint for that, I guess. But really, when our coaching staff reflected back the time we spent with them at meals and in our team room, that was probably the best because we had a great group. And part of the reason we won was a big reason they love one another. And team set after a couple of weeks in the bubble wanting to get away from each other, you knew they weren't going to win. They were ready to go home. But we were like, it's a blessing every game.

We wanted to stay in the bubble. So just those relationships that last a lifetime. As far as great memories, I think my first one was the 25th anniversary this year. My brother's shot to beat Ole Miss, Valparaiso. And it was one of those aha moments when they asked, well, what does your players think of that? And I started thinking that was 25 years ago.

None of our guys were born then. So, man, I'm getting old. So for you, when you win a national championship, obviously everyone praises the job that you did at your program. And we know the work that went into it when you had to take over the circumstances you did back in 2003. Now it's like bizarre because whenever a big job opens up, I always see your name, especially now in the gambling world, like right at the top of the odds.

Is it bizarre to you when people ask you, why haven't you left it? And what is the reason why you've always wanted to remain a Baylor? So they have gambling stuff on that too, huh? Yeah, you can gamble on anything tonight.

Well, unfortunately for Vegas, because they usually don't know what they're talking about, so they've lost some money if they bet on me because this year, 20 here. But I've really been blessed at Baylor to be able to be at a place where I've had two unbelievable athletic directors in Mack Rhodes. Our current athletic director is one athletic director of the year a couple times. He's the one that hired Matt Ruhl.

I mean, he's an unbelievable person to work under and for. And our president, Linda Livingstone, and her husband, Brad, played college basketball at Oklahoma State. They're unbelievable leaders for the university and great for the coaches because they really understand college athletics. So when you're in a place that you like the leadership, you like the community, you love what the school stands for. We're the largest Baptist school in the nation.

Denominations don't matter, but we get to prepare champions for life. And that's spiritual, it's academic, it's character formation along with athletic. And to see our players play professionally and then be successful husbands and fathers and have careers after that and be able to be a part of that, that's what makes coaching so fun. Just wondering, since we started this conversation, you bring it up Matt Ruhl. Obviously, there's been a lot of good coaches at Baylor, Kim Mulkey as well. I was joking around with Dave Aranda after winning the Big 12 Championship. Coach, you won.

You're allowed to smile now and not be so serious on the sideline. What do you kind of learn from someone in a different sport like a Dave Aranda or women's basketball in a Kim Mulkey you had a long relationship with? Well, the great thing is there's so many outstanding coaches and leaders that have come through Baylor. You can learn from watching practices, just how they conduct things. You watch how they run their programs. I know our head coaches meetings, we share different ideas and that's been very educational for me. But what you love being in a smaller school like this is you spend a lot of time with people. And when you spend those times where you're able to pick their brain, there's a lot of things I've taken from all different sorts of coaches that have been successful at Baylor. And that could be spiritual, academic advice, could be character team building to running competitive drills and their philosophy on eating, sleeping and whatnot.

So thanks for asking. Coach Rule, basketball coaches, football coaches always spend a lot of time together. And I spent time with him and learned from him and was cheering hard for him in the NFL.

Hopefully we don't ever play Nebraska. Dave Aranda is an outstanding coach, someone that is one of the smartest people in the profession. And I can tell you that just how he runs their program, it's really impressive how detail oriented he is. And obviously, Coach Mulkey won a couple of championships here and ran an outstanding program, as did other sports that have been ranked number one or won national championships here.

So you obviously know Jerome Tang very well. He worked with you all the way since you guys started at Baylor at 2003. How has he been able to do what we're seeing out of his Kansas State basketball program? Because, Coach, March is all about special stories. This is just truly remarkable stories, what he's done in year one. Well, first, Coach Tang and I were together for 19 years and he loves to eat as much as I do.

I think he likes chubbins a little bit. But we've got to knock some sense into him, all right? We've got to keep working on him. But I can tell you that there was no surprise for me that he was going to be as successful as he's been. Obviously, you can't predict when you're going to win National Coach of the Year, and he should win that.

And he's got my vote. And what's great about the staff is that I've been able to work with at Baylor, we all learn from each other. Coach Driscoll was the first one to leave at North Florida and did a great job early on there.

Their program continues to evolve, and he's a great leader of men. Coach McCaslin has won and been in the tournament and won in the tournament. Coach Mills at Oral Roberts, been in the tournament, won in the tournament. And then Coach Tang, already in the Sweet 16, hoping we see him in Houston in the Final Four. Wrapping up with Scott Drew, UCLA Gonzaga, you've seen both of those programs this year. We all remember the last time they met in an NCAA tournament. I can't wait for that matchup coming up later in the week, Coach. Well, there's a lot of matchups you can't wait for, and that's what makes March Madness, March Madness. Whenever you think that there's a game that's going to be boring or that's an easy win, those are usually where the upsets occur.

So, again, that's why it's so hard to – I mean, you think about it. Every year after the first weekend, nobody's got a perfect bracket. I mean, that just tells you how hard – there's over five million brackets filled out and zero perfect after the first weekend again this year. I mean, that's the parity and how hard it is to win in this tournament. Well, the parity is such a neat thing, because now it's three straight years of 15 taken down to two. We've seen two 16s now beat a one. It really makes you feel like any school has a shot to win a game in this tournament now. One hundred percent, and there's so many good basketball players, so many good coaches, so many good programs with the COVID year. At the end of the day, I always tell our freshmen what 13-year-old has beaten you. And, I mean, 18-year-olds are going against 23-year-olds.

I mean, the playing field is level. Last thing I'll ask you, just inside your conference, Rodney Terry had to take over during some tough circumstances. Texas hasn't missed a beat. Just as a coach, Scott Drew, what impressed you about what Coach Terry's been able to do? Well, first, he's in the Big 12. So, Big 12, we stick together right now, and hopefully they win a championship while they're in the Big 12. When they go to the SEC, we won't cheer for them anymore. But the one thing that Coach Terry has done is the team, once Coach Beard left, stayed together and continued to improve and get better. Because teams that don't improve throughout the year are done playing, and they've gotten better. We split with them this year, and I thought just what he's been able to do and not miss a beat. It's a great staff they have, and they put together a great roster. So, it's fun to watch. Well, he's a Dallas Andrews man.

Yeah, right. He's a Dallas Andrews man. He's a national champion. He's also the 2023 winner of the coach-winning Keys to Life Award.

He is Scott Drew. Coach, great to reconnect with you. Appreciate the time. Thank you. Appreciate you. And we like recruiting out there, and we like eating out there, so we'll be back. Anytime you're in the New York Philly area, let me know. Thanks so much, Coach.