Drew Hired to lead Grand Canyon Basketball Program
Vanderbilt Commodores fans who love to hate former men's head basketball coach Brice Drew are finding reasons to celebrate as the former coach now has a new head coaching position that will move him out of Nashville where he has remained since his firing in 2019.
Announced on Monday, Drew is headed to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix to become their new head coach.
Drew, who signed a reported six-year, $16.3 million contract when he was hired by Vanderbilt was fired following the 2019 season with three years remaining on his contract.
While full details of his contract are unknown, Drew was relieved of his coaching duties and reassigned, which according to sources was done in an attempt to diminish the potential buyout of the remainder of the three years of the contract.
Drew was fired by then-new athletics director Malcolm Turner who released this statement in announcing the firing.
"Vanderbilt is committed to competing at the highest levels on and off the court. After careful consideration, we've decided to make a change to the leadership of our men's basketball program," Athletic Director Malcolm Turner said. "Bryce has represented Vanderbilt in exceptional fashion in his time here. I appreciate all of the contributions Bryce has made over the past three seasons to Vanderbilt, and we wish him all the best."
Vanderbilt hired Drew away from Valparaiso, where he was the head coach for five seasons. Vanderbilt reached the NCAA tournament during Drew's first season at the school but fell to 12-20 during the 2017-18 season and just 9-23 and 0-18 in the SEC in 2019.
Drew is best known for hitting "The Shot" in the 1998 NCAA Basketball Tournament for Valparaiso that defeated Ole Miss.
Grand Canyon University, a Christian based institution made the move from Division II to Division I and joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) where it has been a member since November 27, 2012.
Drew replaces Dan Majerle, who served as the Antelopes head men's basketball coach for seven seasons from their first season in D-I till 2020. Grand Canyon won at least 20 games its first two years in Division-I but went 13-17 this season prompting the school to make the move of firing Majerle.
