REPORT: Louisville Willing to Make Scott Drew One of Highest-Paid Coaches in CBB
Last week, reports surfaced that Louisville’s top target to fill its head coaching vacancy is Baylor head coach Scott Drew.
For most, the initial thought after hearing this was, “Well, of course, they want Drew, but it’ll never happen,” and rightfully so. Afterall, the report did come from Drew Deener, the radio host of ESPN 680 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Still, rumors and speculation continue to bubble as Drew and the Bears gear up for the Big 12 and NCAA Tournament. While the reports don’t seem to hold much public merit, most major splash hires don’t leave many breadcrumbs.
Now, a few days removed from Deener’s report, Eric Crawford of WDRB News (in Louisville, KY) has some more interesting notes to add to the evolving story.
After prefacing the report as second-hand knowledge (but from several folks who are very tied into the Louisville program), Crawford went on to share this little nugget on Twitter.
“Several (again, not first-hand knowledge) have indicated that Louisville is prepared to make Scott Drew among the handful of highest-paid coaches in the college game if he’s interested,” Crawford writes. “Have heard several numbers, don’t know the accuracy. Hearing he also would require a minimum NIL commitment if he decided to entertain an offer, but that’s just about anyone. I have no idea if he’s indicated any interest at all. I still view him as a long shot.”
Crawford then goes on to name a few other candidates, including TCU head coach Jamie Dixon and Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang. Dixon is a name that Crawford says he’s heard “repeatedly”, while Tang is a name he’s heard but isn’t as confident in. Those names are a bit more believable as candidates, but the main point of the tweet was addressing the situation with Drew.
So, how much would Louisville have to offer Baylor’s head coach to make him one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball? Kentucky is paying John Calipari $8.53 million per year, which is the standard upon which the market is currently set. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is second at $6.2 million. Bill Self is No. 3 at $5.96 million, while Rick Barnes ($5.77M) and Bruce Pearl ($5.65M) round out the top five.
Are the Cardinals actually willing to offer Drew somewhere in the neighborhood of $6.0 million? If so, that would land him right around the top three in college basketball, and that would certainly be hard to turn down.
However, Drew is just three years removed from a national title and is coaching in the best league in college basketball. So, until there’s more to the story, it’s probably safe to assume he’s a Bear until he’s not.
