WACO, Texas – Baylor men’s basketball 18th-year head coach Scott Drew was announced as a finalist for a pair of National Coach of the Year awards on Wednesday.
Drew is one of four finalists for both the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year and the USBWA’s Henry Iba Award. He’s joined by fellow finalists Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Michigan’s Juwan Howard and Alabama’s Nate Oats.
The Henry Iba Award is based on regular-season performance and the winner of the award will be announced Friday by the USBWA. The Henry Iba Award is named in honor of the legendary coach at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) who won two NCAA championships and two gold medals and one silver as coach of the U S. Olympic teams.
The Naismith Coach of the Year finalists emerged from a group of 10 semifinalists and were selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, all of whom base their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2020-21 regular college basketball season. The next round of voting runs from March 19-31, with the winner being announced live on CBS Sports Network’s NCAA March Madness 360 studio show on April 2.
Fans will have a say in who wins the top coaching honor by participating in the Naismith Awards Fan Vote presented by Jersey Mike’s. By visiting naismithfanvote.com from March 19-31, fans will have the opportunity to cast a ballot daily for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Awards and the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy for the Men’s and Women’s College Player of the Year. The fan vote accounts for five percent of the overall vote.
Drew led Baylor to its first NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed in program history with a 22-2 record. The Bears claimed the program’s first conference title in 71 years by going 13-1 in Big 12 play, winning more games than any other team in the league despite having four games canceled, while TCU with two cancellations was the only other program to not play at least 17 league games.
Baylor is ranked No. 3 nationally in the latest polls, extending the school-record streak to 28-straight weeks top-5 ranked. The current 28-week streak comes after the Bears had been top-5 ranked for a total of 12 weeks in program history prior to the last two seasons. BU has been in one of the top-3 spots of both polls throughout the 2020-21 season.
No. 1 seed Baylor takes on No. 16 seed Hartford in the NCAA Tournament first round at 2:30 p.m. CT Friday on truTV. Follow @BaylorMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the year.
Scott Drew
Big 12 Coach of the Year (second-straight year)
Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year Finalist (1 of 4)
USBWA Henry Iba Award Finalist (1 of 4)
NABC District 8 Coach of the Year
USBWA District VII Coach of the Year
