Baylor’s Scott Drew Awarded the NABC Guardians of the Game Award for Leadership
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Baylor men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew has been awarded the National Association of Basketball Coaches Guardians of the Game Award for Leadership, announced by the organization on Wednesday.
The awards are presented each year at the NABC Convention to NABC-member coaches, administrators and contributors who embody the NABC’s five core values of leadership, service, education, advocacy and inclusion.
“It's a great privilege to be named a Guardian of the Game,” Drew said. “Basketball has meant so much to my family and so many others, so it has been a true joy to be able to pass along that love for the game to the next generation and beyond. God has given us a great platform to be leaders at our institutions and across the nation though the game of basketball, so to receive this honor alongside some great coaches and contributors is a true blessing and honor.”
In his 21st year with the Bears, Drew has orchestrated one of the greatest rebuilds in college basketball history, culminating with BU’s first Big 12 and National Championship in 2021. That steady hand on the wheel for the last 21 years has built Baylor into a true college basketball power, as the Bears are the winningest power-five program over the last five years, and the only school in the nation to have three-straight top-16 picks in the NBA draft.
While leading his players to on-court success over his 21 years in Waco, with 54 players going on to professional careers, Drew has also seen 40 of the 44 players who exhausted their playing careers in Waco graduate from Baylor.
The 2023-24 Bears have won 20-plus games for the 15th time in the last 17 years and double-digit Big 12 games for the sixth-straight season and ninth time in the last 10 years. In the 97 seasons prior to Drew, BU had just eight seasons with double-digit conference wins and three seasons with 20+ wins.
BU will be back in action on Saturday, March 9, when the 11th-ranked Bears travel to Texas Tech for a 5 p.m. tip at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock. The game will be televised on ESPN2, with Rich Hollenberg and Adrian Branch on the call