It has certainly been an eventful couple of weeks for the Drew family: Baylor coach Scott beat Syracuse in the NCAA tourney on March 21st before losing to Gonzaga 2 days later, former Vanderbilt coach Bryce was fired on March 22nd, and earlier today former Valparaiso coach Homer was named a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2019. Homer made 7 NCAA tourneys during a 9-year stretch from 1996-2004 (including the 1998 Sweet 16, thanks to Bryce making 1 of the most famous shots in NCAA tourney history), won more than 600 games during his 30+ year college coaching career, and was even nominated as 1 of the 150 Most Influential Persons in Valparaiso history. Last year HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Homer about his spectacular career and is proud to present that previously unpublished interview for the very 1st time: congrats Coach!
You played basketball at William Jewell in the 1960s: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you get into coaching? My backcourt teammate was Larry Holley, who just won his 900th game this past season at William Jewell! He was an NAIA All-American who averaged 43 PPG. We played against some amazing players such as Willis Reed (Grambling)/Lucious Jackson (Texas Pan-American). I remember driving on Lucious and he blocked my shot into the 5th row: he was the real deal. I enjoyed playing basketball and working with people to create something and compete. The best part of coaching is not the wins but working with young people who go on to have great careers whether inside or outside of basketball.
You were an assistant to Dale Brown at LSU in the 1970s: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Dale was a superb coach whose strength was in motivation: he would give a pregame pep talk to the players and it made ME want to go out there and win! He taught me how to work with people and encourage them: we are still friends to this day and he remains a great mentor. He is the big brother I never had.
Your 1st 5 years as head coach at Valparaiso resulted in a record of 36-103: how were you able to turn things around and eventually become the winningest coach in school history? When I started out they had not had a winning record in 16 years so the question was whether to go D-3 or D-1. During my 1st 3 years there was always a cloud over us, which really hurt us in recruiting. 1 of our jump-starts was when Dale came up to talk to the team/fans at a preseason banquet…and after that we had a bunch of 20-win seasons.
You were a 4-time MCC COY: what did it mean to you to win such outstanding honors? They are wonderful honors because you share them with everyone: you need a good staff and of course good players, which makes for an enjoyable year despite the peaks/valleys.
In December of 1988 you had a 3-PT OT upset of Notre Dame: how were you able to pull off “The Miracle on Union Street”? It was something that really helped us: we had a record home crowd that day. Mike Jones made a layup to tie it and then we won it in OT. It might have been the 1st ranked team that our school ever upset and it created a nice buzz on campus.
In November of 1988 your team made a D-1 record 19 threes in a win over Butler and in 1993 your team led the nation with 42.3 3P%: what is the secret to making shots from behind the arc? We had a difficult time recruiting centers so sometimes we had big men who were 6’6” but could shoot threes. We worked individually with the players and then put it into a team concept. When the opponent’s 7’ center came out to defend the arc, it created a lot of openings to attack inside. We started to finally recruit some big men, and that is when we started to have success in March.
Take me through the 1998 NCAA tourney:
Your son Bryce had 22 PTS/8 AST in a 1-PT win over Mississippi including his famous game-winning/ESPY-winning 23-footer at the buzzer called “Pacer” (named after the NBA team that you learned it from): how often did it work in practice, and how did that shot change your life (if at all)? All coaches have plays for special situations and we named them all that year after pro teams. We would only run them if there were 4 seconds or less so we would just try it once/week or so. Now you need 2-4 of them because so many games go down to the final seconds. Even when going 5-on-0 it took a lot of work for all of the passes/shot to work: it was rare that it would work in practice and we did not try it all the time. Jamie Sykes faked the pass at 1st, then completed it perfectly to Bill Jenkins, who tipped it over to Bryce. The key for Bryce is that he faked going to the ball 1 way, so when he broke the other way he had a step on the guy as he went down the sideline. It was a wonderful moment for our school.
Bryce scored 22 PTS in a 6-PT OT win over Florida State after Jenkins made the 2nd of 2 FTs at the end of regulation to send it to OT: did you think that Jenkins was going to make his final FT, and what is the key to winning close games in March? Confidence and experience. We had a group of seniors who had been to the NCAA tourney twice and lost twice so they worked all summer and were on a mission to win in the tourney. It was nip and tuck in OT but the Florida State win is often overlooked due to the heroics in the Old Miss game. We had some huge rebounds to solidify that win: it takes an entire team to win.
Prior to the 2010-11 season the floor of the Athletics-Recreation Center was officially named Homer Drew Court: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It was a nice honor but what made it so special was that so many of my former players came back for the unveiling. They were the ones who made it all possible and it was great to reminisce with them. I had my family there, which was also very special.
More than 80 of your former players became teachers/coaches, including your sons Scott/Bryce: did you specifically try to recruit such players, or did you just have a huge impact on their lives, or other? It is impossible to know because each player has their own passions outside of basketball. Unless they could become an NBA 1st round pick, I wanted them to get their degree because it would open up opportunities for them later in life. I recruited good students who were passionate about playing basketball and a lot of those kids just gravitated toward coaching.
Several years ago you announced that both you and your wife Janet were diagnosed with cancer: how is your health doing at the moment, and what have you been up to since leaving the sideline? My health has been very good and the prostate cancer is completely in remission. My wife has been courageous in defeating breast/bladder cancer so we feel blessed each day.