A detailed look at potential Bryce Drew as a Gopher Basketball candidate
Bryce Drew is perhaps most known for making one of the most iconic NCAA Tournament buzzer-beaters in history. Drew is the one who nailed the three-pointer to lift 14-Valparaiso over 3-Ole Miss in 1998.
COACH NAME
Current Position: Grand Canyon
Age: 50
After a 7-year professional career, Drew began coaching under his father at Valpo.
Career Highlights
In 2012, Drew took over the Valparaiso program from his father, Homer Drew. The younger Bryce was there for five seasons, making the NCAA Tournament twice and winning the Horizon League regular season title four times.
That success at Valpo earned him the opportunity to take over the Vanderbilt program. His time at Vandy was short-lived. He managed to make it to the NCAA Tournament in his first season, and from there, he brought in a couple of very highly ranked recruiting classes. But in year three, things came off the rails. Partly due to injuries, and partly due to team dysfunction, the Commodores went 0-18 in the SEC and Drew was fired.
Drew took a season off and was then hired by Grand Canyon University to replace Dan Majerle. And Drew has been incredibly successful leading the Antelopes. He has completed his 5th season, they have gone to the NCAA Tournament 4 times, he has 2 regular season conference titles and four tournament titles. Last season, as a 12-seed, they upset Saint Mary’s in the first round before falling to eventual Final Four participant, Alabama.
Coaching Style
On offense Drew’s teams consistently focus on offensive rebounding and running an offense that attacks the paint and gets to the free throw line often. And yes, most years they are pretty good at making their free throws.
But Drew’s teams are really known for their defensive intensity. In eight of his 13 seasons as a head coach, his teams have finished in the top 50 in defensive effective FG%. In his five seasons at Grand Canyon, they have never finished lower than 81st in 3pt defensive FG%, ranking 2nd in the country during the 2021-22 season.
Reason for Optimism
Drew wins and wins at a high level. He has six conference tournament championships in 13 seasons and his .659 overall win percentage is enviable.
He has also demonstrated an ability to recruit at a high level. His 2018 class at Vanderbilt was ranked 12th in the country, 3rd in the SEC. This class had Darius Garland (5th overall pick in 2019) and Aaron Nesmith (14th overall pick in 2020). HIs 2019 class was not as highly rated but included Dylan Disu and Scottie Pippen Jr.
Things went sideways at Vandy (more on that below), but Drew has had remarkable successs at both Valpo and Grand Canyon. I would have optimism that his time, and failures, at the Power 5 level were mistakes to be learned from and translate to more success with his next opportunity.
Reason to Pause
His time at Vandy got ugly in a hurry. Drew made the NCAA Tournament in his first season and then things went south real fast. In his third year everything seemed to go wrong and the Commodores finished with an 0-18 record in the SEC. Is that reason for concern? It is. But they also lost their best player to injury and a number of personality issues emerged with that roster. It would be more concerning if this was something we have seen in other seasons or with other programs, but this appears to be one really bad season.
Verdict
This is a name who has had Power 5 experience and has had tremendous success at multiple mid-major stops. He has shown the ability to recruit both high school and transfer kids.
I would be very excited if Drew emerged as the name to replace Ben Johnson.