By Tyler White | Sports Writer
Baylor men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew proved once again that he’s here for the long run. Drew’s tenure with the Bears won’t stop at 21 years, and he showed the fanbase that he isn’t ready to leave for what could be greener pastures just yet.
There was a lot of chaos in the college basketball world in the last 48 hours, as Kentucky zeroed in on Drew to replace John Calipari, who took off to Arkansas. After tracked flights, drama with Chip Gaines and a tweet from Drew himself, one thing remains clear: Drew is here to stay.
On Tuesday, Drew was reportedly the frontrunner for the new coaching position at Kentucky. Drew and Wildcats athletic director Mitch Barnhart have a close relationship that spurred following the 2021 NCAA Tournament when the Bears won the national title in the NCAA bubble. For this reason, people began to assume that Drew was a shoo-in for the UK job.
Not so fast.
As the search continued, tweets began to surface of Kentucky fans wanting Drew to take the position. One particular tweet was a joke from Barstool Kentucky that said to keep Chip and Joanna Gaines away from Drew while the decision was being made.
A comment replied, asking who Chip Gaines was. He responded with a tweet of his own, stating, “Do you kiss your mom with that mouth … ask her who I am, she’ll know.” He began to tweet back and forth with numerous Wildcats fans, sharing statements about how Drew doesn’t need money when we have God on our side and other similar comments.
Chip Gaines tweeting about Kentucky fans' moms is the latest twist on another crazy day of the coaching search.
(Yes, I will tag you in hopes of getting a reply, @chipgaines)
MORE: https://t.co/eymYyDQXBX pic.twitter.com/7z6W2K3RCS
— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) April 10, 2024
While these tweets were occurring, other tweets began to speculate about where Drew was. Folks began to track a flight, assuming it was from Waco to Lexington, K.Y., and KWTX was present on the ground ready to catch the news of Drew potentially returning.
However, Drew responded with a tweet of his own, sharing a photo at Mi Casita with Eric Shero, the chief financial officer at Alliance Bank. Under the tweet, people began to urge Drew to take the coaching job in Kentucky, saying there were great lunch spots in Lexington too.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Drew was struggling with the decision. However, on Thursday, Drew made the decision to stay at Baylor and continue his coaching tenure.
In a tweet on Thursday morning, Drew shared that he felt called to stay in Waco with his family. He shared he is grateful for the support of athletics and staff at Baylor and is “looking forward to bringing more championships to Waco.”
#JOY pic.twitter.com/JhxpsmHVOw
— Scott Drew (@BUDREW) April 11, 2024
With Kentucky being one of the few jobs he might have considered over Baylor, his decision to stay here is clearly impactful. With two opportunities to leave the coaching job and take on roles at either Louisville or Kentucky, I think it’s almost safe to say that Drew is here to stay for the long run.
After all, this is closest he’s come to leaving since he considered the Memphis job about 14 years ago — and he still stayed both times.
