Scott Drew, Honest thoughts?

[RondosRevengeTour]

Scott Drew resume against SEC opponents:
11-11 against A&M (-19 net points)
2-0 against vandy (our only guarenteed win it seems now by net 5)
1-1 against ole miss (-5 net)
1-1 against miss state (both 1 point game)
2-1 against Florida (-8 net)
4-3 against South Carolina (-1 net)
1-2 against bama (-7 net)
4-10 against Missouri (-36 net)
Overall 28-31 (-71 net) only positive net points is vandy.

Are we really sure that Scott can bring us back? I will support the coach no matter what but I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around a guy who hasn't gotten it done against our conference in years past in which the SEC was not nearly where it is now. With the new SEC media rights deal, the conference as a whole is only going to get better and is better than his 28-31 record against them. Once again, I love the program so I will support whoever is hired, I just want to see what people think of him as the new guy and if he can get it done here. Thanks.

 

[true-blue1]

He was 2-1 against us?

 

[Bowfreak.]

Drew will benefit from UK. He is good at Baylor, he will be better at UK. He is a better coach than Cal. He will get recruits. Drew at UK will be closer 2009-2017 Cal than the last 5 years of Cal. I don't envision him being as great as the early years of Cal but he can win a championship here. Cal will never sniff a championship again with his roster building and lack of coaching.

 

[TheDude73]

I don't see him getting it done, especially not in the vamped up SEC today.

And I don't want to hear more rationale around "But it's Baylor!".

Aside from his one NC, he's been doing just about what Cal has over the last few years. Juuuust enough to get into the tournament, but not enough to go on a deep run. 10+ losses in the last 4 years.

 

[BigBlue1992]

Good post man but facts dont matter right now. Many are running off of feelings.

 

[TheDude73]

Drew will benefit from UK. He is good at Baylor, he will be better at UK. He is a better coach than Cal. He will get recruits. Drew at UK will be closer 2009-2017 Cal than the last 5 years of Cal.

Why didn't this work for BCG? People keep talking about UK making some decent coach great, but it didn't do much for BCG and barely did something for Tubby, if anything at all. Hell, it couldn't even keep Cal afloat.

 

[SpamburgerHamburger_rivals101482]

Think he's the best you can reasonably get. Hurly is a pipedream and you can't risk losing both hoping for the 10% chance guy. Fingers crossed.

 

[AGEE11]

More facts about Drew. This is from November

 

[Bhad Rhabies]

Scott Drew resume against SEC opponents:
11-11 against A&M (-19 net points)
2-0 against vandy (our only guarenteed win it seems now by net 5)
1-1 against ole miss (-5 net)
1-1 against miss state (both 1 point game)
2-1 against Florida (-8 net)
4-3 against South Carolina (-1 net)
1-2 against bama (-7 net)
4-10 against Missouri (-36 net)
Overall 28-31 (-71 net) only positive net points is vandy.

Are we really sure that Scott can bring us back? I will support the coach no matter what but I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around a guy who hasn't gotten it done against our conference in years past in which the SEC was not nearly where it is now. With the new SEC media rights deal, the conference as a whole is only going to get better and is better than his 28-31 record against them. Once again, I love the program so I will support whoever is hired, I just want to see what people think of him as the new guy and if he can get it done here. Thanks.

You realize most of those games are from when A&M and Mizzou were in the Big 12 and Baylor was barely a basketball program for the majority of the time when Drew took them over to the point when Mizzou and A&M left the Big 12, right?

It’s not a very genuine stat you’ve provided.

 

[Bowfreak.]

Why didn't this work for BCG? People keep talking about UK making some decent coach great, but it didn't do much for BCG and barely did something for Tubby, if anything at all. Hell, it couldn't even keep Cal afloat.

Do we really need to talk about the differences between BCG and Drew? BCG was a train wreck off the court and I have no idea if he could actually coach because his tenure was nothing but turmoil. Drew can coach, can recruit, will be better than recent Cal and won't be firing on coeds (like BCG). That is an upgrade.

 

[AGEE11]

Why didn't this work for BCG? People keep talking about UK making some decent coach great, but it didn't do much for BCG and barely did something for Tubby, if anything at all. Hell, it couldn't even keep Cal afloat.

BCG was a drunk who ran everyone off, players, boosters admin, etc

Tubby quit trying to recruit.

Cal refused to change his roster building and coaching styles to a modern game.

Drew has proven that he can rebuild and maintain relationships, recruit hi butt off, and adapt his style to what ever is need. He may get here and do like Tubby and Cal after a few years and stop trying in one or the other, but given his track record, him plus what UK offers will be a good match.

 

[Gametown_baller]

14-4 against Texas over last 18 games.
14-4 against Oklahoma last 18 games

 

[EliteBlue]

You realize most of those games are from when A&M and Mizzou were in the Big 12 and Baylor was barely a basketball program for the majority of the time when Drew took them over to the point when Mizzou and A&M left the Big 12, right?

It’s not a very genuine stat you’ve provided.

This. AM and Mizzou stats are skewed a little due to the initial 5 years of murdergate Baylor basketball era.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

More facts about Drew. This is from November

Please stop confusing things with facts —they disrupt the narrative.

People who were miserable with Tubby and BCG and eventually Calipari do not want to be moved out of their comfort zone.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

14-4 against Texas over last 18 games.
14-4 against Oklahoma last 18 games

Texas hasn't been relevant since Kevin Durant, Oklahoma isn't even good at football anymore, let alone basketball, 2 mediocre years with Buddy and Trae young don't make you a serious program.

 

[Wildcats1st]

Not the right fit. Family doesn’t want to be here. He will be back in Waco in 2 yrs with the family

 

[SouthernINcat]

Hell of a coach. Hell of a guy. Hell of a recruiter.

Great X and O guy.

We will be in for a fun ride. If your biggest gripe is that he is "boring" and not flashy etc. PLEASE BRING IT ON!

Will be great having a stand up man representing the program and state.

 

[wardlow]

I just can’t get excited about him. I’m ignorant and short sighted so I could be off base.

Hopefully if he comes I’m proven wrong very quickly.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

I just can’t get excited about him. I’m ignorant and short sighted so I could be off base.

Hopefully if he comes I’m proven wrong very quickly.

hard to get excited for someone with early exits in the tourney when the fanbases main gripe is our march portfolio.

 

[Gametown_baller]

Texas hasn't been relevant since Kevin Durant, Oklahoma isn't even good at football anymore, let alone basketball, 2 mediocre years with Buddy and Trae young don't make you a serious program.

They are now SEC schools. It’s just relevant to the thread.

 

[BigKari]

I think it’s going to require patience and perspective. I think Drew will have the resources to replicate what he had with the 2021 Championship team. Probably would’ve gone to a FF in 2020 as well. I think he has that happen at Kentucky. I think he would build a team that has a consistent nucleus with 2-3 mercenaries each year and you see them go 2nd round, to Final 4, and then a Championship. You’re probably talking year 5, 6, or 7 for a Championship. A 10 year career for Drew could look like:

Year 1: Sweet 16
Year 2: NIT
Year 3: Round of 64
Year 4: Round of 32 (fans start getting really grumpy)
Year 5 (return basically entire team): Final 4
Year 6: National Champions
Year 7: Round of 64
Year 8: Sweet 16
Year 9: Sweet 16
Year 10: Elite 8

It’s 5 Sweet 16s, 3 Elite 8s, 2 Final 4s, and a Championship. Reasonable expectations for a decade at Kentucky, and better than Cal’s last 10 (4 Sweet 16s, 2 Elite 8s, 1 FF). I just don’t think Drew comes in and blows the doors off the competition. I think he will have problems in the SEC and there’s a big enough sample size there to raise an eyebrow. But he’ll learn the conference and he’ll build his program to win SEC Championships. That’s going to matter again. But it’s also going to take time. We have to be realistic and understand this is a 5 year rebuild for any coach, even if we had landed Dan Hurley. Nate Oats would’ve been the quick spark get you to a Final 4 in year 2 hire, but there’s no guarantee of that. After Cal, we want a culture setter. Dan Hurley or Billy Donovan would’ve been perfect for that. But Scott Drew does it well also, he’ll make Kentucky a program again, not a ******** “destination”.

 

[SemperFiCat]

hard to get excited for someone with early exits in the tourney when the fanbases main gripe is our march portfolio.

My main gripe is our old coach was a dick that didn't care if Kentucky won or not. So, I'm basically good with anyone on our list. Although, I think the world is gonna sour on Hurley as well. Some don't care, right now, but they're gonna care when he isn't delivering banners every year. He's gonna make Cal seem like a friendly neighbor.

 

[KFuqua]

He would be a great hire for Kentucky. A really good coach who believes in building his program and doing it the right way. If he is the hire, I'll be happy with it.

 

[Zuma75]

Drew will benefit from UK. He is good at Baylor, he will be better at UK. He is a better coach than Cal. He will get recruits. Drew at UK will be closer 2009-2017 Cal than the last 5 years of Cal. I don't envision him being as great as the early years of Cal but he can win a championship here. Cal will never sniff a championship again with his roster building and lack of coaching.

It's very reasonable to assume he would get a substantial bump from being at UK in overall win % (even if you allow for excluding his first few rebuilding years at Baylor). This was true for Tubby, Pitino and even Cal (who already a high win % before coming to UK).

The big question mark with Drew is tournament performance. His last 10-11 years, outside of the championship, they have underperformed relative to their seed several times. Somewhat in his defense, the past 3 years they have been knocked out by teams who ended up advancing to the E8 or FF (Clemson this year, Creighton last year, North Carolina the year before). Still, 3 straight second round exits when seeded 3, 3, and 1 ...

 

[Jakerz]

Yawn hire.

But don’t expect nothing less from Mitch

 

[permdaddy_rivals45705]

Not exciting
Won't unite the fanbase immediately like I had hoped.

I think there is a chance UK raises his level.
This could in time excite and unite the fanbase.

It's possible he gets it done. It's also possible the job swallows him up quickly.

I would rather have someone I feel certain about but I'll give him a chance.

 

[TheDude73]

BCG was a drunk who ran everyone off, players, boosters admin, etc

Tubby quit trying to recruit.

Cal refused to change his roster building and coaching styles to a modern game.

Drew has proven that he can rebuild and maintain relationships, recruit hi butt off, and adapt his style to what ever is need. He may get here and do like Tubby and Cal after a few years and stop trying in one or the other, but given his track record, him plus what UK offers will be a good match.

Ok. So what you're saying is you don't really know how he'll do. He was pretty mediocre aside from the one NC, and the examples you used for the other three were after the fact.

Nothing you say here convinces me he will be some coaching juggernaut at UK, or will he perform any better Cal's last few years or Tubby as pretty much a whole.

Guess we'll see. I'm not confident.

 

[TheDude73]

Do we really need to talk about the differences between BCG and Drew? BCG was a train wreck off the court and I have no idea if he could actually coach because his tenure was nothing but turmoil. Drew can coach, can recruit, will be better than recent Cal and won't be firing on coeds (like BCG). That is an upgrade.

I'm just talking about this supposed "Kentucky Effect" we are supposedly always going to have with a new coach. We have no evidence in our history where it's actually done anything for a coach. Cal was Cal when he came on. Tubby inherited Pitino's players and within a couple of years or so started being more mediocre, as was expected. Sutton didn't seem to have much of this "Kentucky Effect" everyone always tosses around.

My point - there is no "Kentucky Effect" that magically improves a coach's performance from a previous stop.

 

[DaytonKat]

He will do very well at Kentucky. Let's hang some more championship banners!

 

[logiUK]

I don't really understand the hatred towards Drew. Would he be my first choice? No, probably not. But I'd be alright with this pick.

Of course, I'm also one that understands that performance and results at one location doesn't equate to the same performance and result at another location. If all you're doing is taking a look at the wins and losses a coach has amassed at one location and expecting those same wins and losses at another location, then I don't know if you're grasping the full story. This is my argument against Hurley. I think too many people see the two championships he's gotten at UConn and expect him to put up the same performances and results at Kentucky. It doesn't work that way.

I would probably want to inquire with Donovan before offering to Drew - and maybe Barnhart has already done that and Donovan said no. I'm not privy to that information, and I don't think anyone else on this message board is either.

My hope is that Barnhart, or whoever is on the committee to select the next coach, is actually interviewing these candidates and asking them how they would handle certain situations at Kentucky. And then hold them to those responses. And making a decision based on how they say they would handle those situations. If Barnhart or the searching committee is simply looking at the past success of a coach at their current/previous locations and deeming that person as "their guy" then they're no better than the message board arm chair administrators here.

I'm not saying I'd be all in for Donovan. But if he answers the interview questions the way Kentucky basketball is meant to be played and built (and holds true to those answers) then maybe he's your guy. But if he doesn't you move on. Donovan being out of the college game for so long is a concern for me.

The one concern I have with Drew is that he may be so close to Barnhart, that if he underperforms or doesn't hold true to the answers he gives in the interview process, will Barnhart have the balls to fire him? That's the problem with hiring someone that you have more than a professional relationship with.

 

[chroix]

Great fit and the right hire. The same handful of negative voices keep flooding every thread but there aren’t as many of them as they’d like to believe. He’s going to do great here.

 

[Wildcat Sheli]

Wait. Am I reading correctly that Baylor was 24-11 this season (UK: 23-10)? And 23-11 last season (UK: 22-12)?

And if post-season success is a major reason fans were fed up with Cal, I don’t see how not making it to the second weekend three years in a row is what we’re seeking. Nevertheless, I know UK has an abundance of resources that could make a difference, and I certainly will wish whoever comes in the very best. I just hope they carefully considered Billy Donovan, especially in light of his interview the other day that hinted he would entertain a call if only it was made.

 

[bthaunert]

Scott Drew resume against SEC opponents:
11-11 against A&M (-19 net points)
2-0 against vandy (our only guarenteed win it seems now by net 5)
1-1 against ole miss (-5 net)
1-1 against miss state (both 1 point game)
2-1 against Florida (-8 net)
4-3 against South Carolina (-1 net)
1-2 against bama (-7 net)
4-10 against Missouri (-36 net)
Overall 28-31 (-71 net) only positive net points is vandy.

Are we really sure that Scott can bring us back? I will support the coach no matter what but I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around a guy who hasn't gotten it done against our conference in years past in which the SEC was not nearly where it is now. With the new SEC media rights deal, the conference as a whole is only going to get better and is better than his 28-31 record against them. Once again, I love the program so I will support whoever is hired, I just want to see what people think of him as the new guy and if he can get it done here. Thanks.

I'm trying to figure out why some people are so adamant about including the first half of his career when we didn't consider Cal's first half of his career when talking about why he should be let go. IMO, you can't focus on the lack of success in Cal's last 5 years, discount what he did in 2010-15 and then hold Scott Drew accountable for his success or lack there of in his early career. Let's look at the last 5 years as to what he has done:

Record vs Top 25 teams: 32-16
Record vs SEC teams: 6-1
2-0 Florida
2-0 vs Arkansas
2-0 vs Auburn
0-1 vs Alabama

His biggest flaw is his first weekend exits the past 3 years. That's a concern. But people need to stop worrying about what he did 10 and 15 years ago.