Briles-Drew-Mulkey among nation’s 3 longest-tenured coaching trios

Few professions are as transient as coaching, so it’s pretty incredible to step back and recognize the rarity of what we have at Baylor right now. Our coaches not only win here; they stay here. Baylor’s 14 varsity coaches have spent a combined 125 seasons in green and gold, bringing 62 Big 12 championships and five national championships home to Waco. That kind of continued excellence doesn’t happen everywhere.

Consider this:

• It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Art Briles was hired to lead the Baylor football program. But that was all the way back in November 2007, and eight seasons later, he’s now tied as the 8th-longest tenured Power Five head coach in all of college football.
• In basketball, Kim Mulkey is in her 16th season leading the Lady Bears, and Scott Drew in his 13th coaching the Baylor men. No major conference school has kept their current men’s and women’s basketball coaches together longer than Baylor.
• Out of 128 FBS schools, only two schools have had their trio of football, men’s and women’s basketball coaches in place longer than BU. Middle Tennessee State has kept their trio since 2006, and Michigan State since 2007. Baylor and Duke share the distinction of enjoying the same football and basketball coaches since the 2008 season.

That kind of longevity extends far beyond football and basketball. Baylor currently boasts six coaches who have spent more than a decade at Baylor: Matt Knoll (20 years leading men’s tennis), Mulkey (16, women’s basketball), Glenn Moore (16, softball), Joey Scrivano (14, women’s tennis), Drew (13, men’s basketball), and Todd Harbour (11, track & field and cross country).

Coaching at Baylor may once have been considered a stepping stone, but now, it’s a destination job. That’s a credit to both the coaches and athletic director Ian McCaw, who have together built an athletic program that’s the envy of other schools across the nation. Every one of the aforementioned coaches took over his or her program when it was at a lower-ebb — and we have had the luxury over the last decade (or more) of getting to know them, love them, and watch them build something special. It’s a relationship few other fan bases can enjoy.

Sic ’em, Baylor coaches!