Bryce Drew was happy to work at ESPN as an analyst for another year.
He liked watching college basketball from the sidelines. He was relieved to have a break from the coaching grind. Hanging out at the shoot-around and getting to know opposing coaches and players in a different way was fun.
Drew wasn’t going to jump at the first coaching offer that came his way after he was fired by Vanderbilt last season.
He was going to jump at the first good offer that was a fit for him.
Grand Canyon, which announced its hiring of Drew on March 17, isn’t a good fit. Drew replaced Dan Majerle.
It’s a perfect fit.
Someone had Drew in mind when this job description was written.
Nestled in downtown Phoenix, it’s the largest Christian university in the world, with 70,000 online students and 20,000 students on campus.
The Lopes play in a 7,000-seat arena that drew an average of 7,170 fans for 102.42% capacity, according to Grand Canyon’s website. The New York Times called it one of college basketball’s “rowdiest environments.”
Grand Canyon plays in the Western Athletic Conference. New Mexico State won the regular-season title this season.
Drew’s life is centered around faith, family and basketball.
This hire was a home run. The Grand Canyon faithful might not realize yet it but will.
Drew was smitten as soon as he arrived with his wife.
“We were really impressed with the vision and mission they have for the school and their commitment to basketball,” he said. “That was a big draw for us.”
Drew, who started his coaching career at Valparaiso University, was one of the three splashiest hires in college basketball. Rick Pitino at Iona and Billy Gillispie at Tarleton State are the other two.
Drew was unfairly launched after three seasons at Vanderbilt.
In the spring of 2018, after five-star recruit Darius Garland signed, Drew was revered. The Commodores had a top-15 recruiting class after signing another five-star recruit, Simisola Shittu, with Garland.
Less than a year later, Drew was fired after the Commodores finished 0-18 in the SEC. He was replaced by Jerry Stackhouse.
It was a premature decision by newly hired athletic director Malcolm Turner, who was fired a year into the job.
Vanderbilt started 4-0 in 2018-19, but Garland injured his knee in its fifth game against Kent State, and the season unraveled.
It was one of those moments when the new boss was trying to create his own legacy.
Drew learned from the experience.
“I reflected on a lot of things,” he said. “If I could go back, I’d do the exact same thing. Everything was going well. We had one NCAA Tournament appearance, and we were on our way to a second when Darius got hurt.”
Drew admitted the program was vulnerable in two areas.
The Commodores were too young, and he didn’t have a backup point guard.
Those mistakes aren’t going to happen again.
“You have to have some older guys in the program for leadership and maturity, ” he said. “We were short a point guard. Those are two areas we’ll look at.”
Drew has hired Ed Schilling and Jamall Walker for his staff. Schilling was at Indiana with Archie Miller and, before that, at UCLA with Steve Alford. Walker spent eight seasons as an assistant at Illinois. Casey Shaw, Drew’s brother-in-law, followed him from Vanderbilt.
The Lopes just finished their third season of Division I basketball. He’ll get a fair chance to build up the program.
It was a strange time to get hired.
Drew still hasn’t had an in-person meeting with his assistants because of the coronavirus pandemic, and he has to sell a campus to recruits even though he’s been there only once.
His days are a series of Zoom meetings with his assistants.
He flew out for the job interview right before the country was shut down.
“Looking back on this, I didn’t know all this stuff was going to happen when I was going out there,” he said. “The timing was great. It’s a blessing how it has worked out.”
