WACO, Texas — Scott Drew took over the Baylor men’s basketball program at one of the lowest possible points in 2003. The Bears were coming off a major scandal and had limited scholarships because of previous violations. Yet, the guy who had only been a head coach for one season previously saw potential at Baylor.

“Any time you have a big decision, my mom and dad taught me to pray about it,” Drew recalled. “I really felt led to come to Baylor University. I just loved the hospitality and the kindness of the people.”

While Waco was welcoming to the Drew family, there were plenty of struggles early on as he tried to build the program back up. With a depleted roster, the Bears only went 21-53 in his first three seasons. 

“Those early years, just the players that came in and we didn’t have as much success on the court, but the sacrifices and the time they put in helped build this program,” Drew said.  

Starting with the 2006-07 season, things started to turn for Baylor. They were getting better players on the team and started winning more games. A major turning point was reaching the NCAA tournament in 2008.

“It’s the first time in the tournament in 20 years and what a monumental moment for the program,” said Drew. “That was definitely one of those moments.”

Scott Drew and Baylor have not had a losing record since that 2007-08 season. They made the tournament eight times in that span and reached the Sweet 16 four of those times. But with all that success came raised expectations and disappointment when the program couldn’t quite reach the Final 4. That all changed last year when Baylor not only got to that final weekend of the tournament, but also captured the 2021 national championship.

“Looking back, winning it all with them was so neat,” Drew said. “The victory parade and seeing the joy of Central Texas, the Baylor family, and seeing everyone with the championship shirts that just makes it all worth it.”

Baylor became just the second program in the state of Texas to win a men’s basketball national title and the first since Texas Western in 1966. It was a hectic off-season and Drew joked that he didn’t have lots of time to soak in the title. However, there are moments he’s reminded of it and will forever have it to hold onto.

“I was talking to Tony Bennett once (Virginia head coach) and he said, when you’re having a bad practice and you look up at that banner, it brings up a great memory and makes that practice not so bad,” said Drew. “When you see a fan and they say, 'You have no idea what that championship meant,' it just rekindles, re-excites and re-energizes you. Hopefully that’s something that never goes away.”

Drew is not resting on that title, though. With a pretty different group of guys this season, Baylor is off to an undefeated start and is again ranked No. 1 in the country.

“When you do things for others, you don’t have pressure on yourself and focus on what I can do to make my teammates better,” said Drew. “I think we’ve been successful in helping our players with that. Greater levels, greater devils, you’ve always got pressure and what have you done for me lately,” Drew said. “One week you’re ranked No. 1, you’re the best team and you’re going to win it all. The next week you lose  — and what happened? That’s all part of the journey and what makes it exciting.”