NCAA Champion Coach Scott Drew says: Everybody wants to feel recruited.

Episode 87

Nearly 17 million viewers tuned into the 2021 NCAA National Championship to see the Baylor Bears, led by head coach Scott Drew, beat the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. The win was Baylor’s first National Championship – the culmination of the biggest turnaround in college sports history. Coach Drew joins Corporate Competitor Podcast to share leadership lessons he learned on the journey, beginning with the moment he turned his job interview into a successful recruiting session.

It was 2003, Coach Drew had just finished his first year as head men’s basketball coach at Valparaiso when he learned that there would be a coaching vacancy at Baylor University. Coach Drew wanted that job badly, not only because it represented a step up the college basketball food chain but also because he wanted to be with a program whose mission and ambition matched his own.

When he learned where his interview would be held, he had the room decorated in Baylor’s colors of green and gold and had a fake “USA Today” cover created highlighting Baylor making the Final Four. He printed the “newspaper” with Baylor players photoshopped on the page. Bottles of Dr. Pepper, a key Baylor corporate supporter, were placed around the table for all to enjoy.

Heck, this wasn’t a job interview… it was more like a party.

“Everybody wants to be recruited,” explained Drew of his unorthodox interviewing technique. “People often go into interviews unsure about whether they want the job, so they don’t sell themselves as much as they could. This casts the seed of doubt in your interviewer, which is the last thing you want.” In other words, counsels Drew, be careful about turning down a job that hasn’t been offered to you. In fact, he advises, “Always win the job first. Then decide.”

Pulling out all the stops not only showed the officials from Baylor how much Drew appreciated them, but it also showed the energy and positivity with which he would recruit prospects for their basketball program.

Drew got the job and went on to build a winning tradition at Baylor. In this episode, he shares a treasury of leadership learnings that reflect the rich basketball culture from which he comes and teaches how to build and maintain strong teams. “Every year is different, and you start over again at the bottom of the hill,” said Drew. “And it’s never the same pathway back up: you have different players, different chemistry, and different schedules. You have to fight human nature, which is to be complacent, and appreciate what made you successful before but be ready to change your playbook.”

You will learn: