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• BRYCE DREW FULL

Your last season at Vanderbilt, it seemed like just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I think we’ve had one of the top three overall atmospheres in college basketball, and this year I think it was the best in the country because we were able to get some students in the building, and they’re just so loud and rowdy. We had as many fans as the the rules would let us get in the building, as far as students. How much are you looking forward to finally getting to experience that, knock on wood, this fall?

BRYCE DREW FULL

You really haven’t experienced the full building and the Havocs and the atmosphere that made Antelopes home games pretty special. So, I think that’s motivation for our guys. And then the selection party, doing it the right way, the way it can usually be done. But the full experience with our school, how much we love basketball, it will be incredible to come back to campus. Our school flew out a couple hundred students that they would allow at the game. I think it’s extra motivation for our players to want to get back, because our students got to be part of some of it. So we got a lot of publicity just around the city in general. You know, Phoenix has been great to us, and we were the only team in Arizona to make the tournament. I’m sure it was different because students were doing remote learning and you’re not around a lot of people during the season, but did you get a sense of the kind of excitement you guys generated? So that made it even more rewarding in the end. Because it had been a lot of work, from our team’s standpoint, from the school’s standpoint with the testing and just everything involved. So there were a lot of challenges in it, and I think those challenges are what made it so much more rewarding. We had three different quarantines where we had to take time off, including one in February that really hurt us for a little while. There were some challenges getting to know your team.

It was a lot of work, especially taking over a new program during COVID-19. Just looking back on that run, what was that like, especially for a place that had never experienced it before? Getting to the school’s first NCAA Tournament is a pretty remarkable achievement. Did you get to celebrate much with Scott?ĬOVID makes it really hard. But when it actually happens, it’s almost like it takes a little while for it to soak in. You always dream of having someone you’re close to win it. So having that dream and remembering being just a kid watching it all, and then being in the building and watching Scott win it all, it was just such an incredible whole experience. Growing up, with my dad (Homer) being a college coach, we always loved March Madness and the Final Four. I got to be there for their Round of 32 game and then the championship game. I know you were in the building when Baylor won the national title.

You know, that doesn’t happen every year. Well, yeah, my brother won the national championship. So, um, did anything interesting happen with the Drew family this season? He led the Antelopes to their first WAC title and first NCAA Tournament appearance, eight years after the school joined Division I. After a successful run at Valparaiso and a disastrous final season at Vanderbilt, Drew took over a program brimming with potential. So again this offseason, The Athletic will check in with select freshmen and head coaches about their first year - the things they learned in Year 1 that will shape Year 2 and beyond. His most memorable season was certainly 1998, when a senior-laden squad led by son Bryce defeated Ole Miss and Florida State to make it to the Sweet 16.First-year players and first-year head coaches may think they’re ready for everything college basketball and a new program will throw at them. Over the past four seasons, Drew guided the Crusaders through a move from the Mid-Con (now Summit League) to the Horizon League, bringing them to the brink of an HL title and NCAA tournament birth this past year. It was in his 22 seasons at Valpo where Drew made his greatest impact.ĭrew won 371 games and nine Mid-Continent Conference titles (a 10th title was won by his son Scott during his first retirement in 02-03). His 640 wins are good for 40th on the all-time wins list. His son, former Valpo All-American and NBA guard, Bryce Drew, appears to be his successor.ĭrew posted a 640-428 (.599) record in 34 seasons at Bethel College (IN), Indiana University-South Bend and two separate stints at Valpo. Legendary Valparaiso University head basketball coach, Homer Drew, is expected to announce his retirement Tuesday afternoon in a press conference on campus, according to Sporting News and the Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune.