Episode 247: Coach Drew Stutts (Head Men's Basketball Coach, Freed Hardeman University) Henderson, TN ("Pace and Shooting")

Championship Vision Basketball Podcast

Drew Stutts just finished his second season has the head coach of the Lions where he has back-to-back years finishing in the top half of conference after being picked 11 out 12 both years, back-to-back years top 5 in 3s made per game and top 15 in overall 3-pt percentage, the NAIA record for 2020 with 26 3s made in a game, top three in scoring in AMC and Mid-South, 82 ppg, three All-Americans, one Freshman of the Year and six All-Conference players. Overall GPA in year 1 was 3.29 placing eight on All-Academic team, and nine student-athletes on the All-Academic team in year two, which ranked third out of 12 teams in the Mid-South.

Stutts has recruited at a high level since coming on as head coach, bringing in two top-50 players in Tennessee for this next recruiting class, as well as the 2020 Mr. Basketball and No. 38 recruit in Tennessee in 2020. He has signed top transfers, including Bryan Battle, who was a Third Team All-American at FHU and is currently playing professionally in Europe.

In his first season, Stutts and the Lions won more games than the previous two years combined. They were top five in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (10.89) and second in the AMC in scoring, averaging 82.2 points per game. In the second game of the season against Crowley's Ridge, the Lions knocked down an FHU single-game record 22 3-pointers.

The Lions also added two guys to the First-Team All-AMC for the first time since the 2015-16 season in Bryan Battle and Kortland Martin. Freshman Konstantin Dotsenko was named the Freshman of the Year and was also added to the Second-Team All-AMC under Stutts's leadership.

Before returning to Freed-Hardeman, Stutts was the head coach at Chester County, where he led the program to a 19-10 record and its first appearance in the Region Semifinals since 2004. The Eagles averaged 73 points-per-game in his one year at the helm, which was in the top 10 in the state of Tennessee for scoring average.

Stutts is a native of Florence, Alabama, where he played high school basketball at Mars Hill Bible School. He played collegiately at Northwest Shoals Community College before transferring to the University of North Alabama where he played basketball and earned his degree in Physical Education in 2011.

During his playing career, he served as the assistant coach at Mars Hill, where he helped lead the team to a 104-28 overall record and two Final Four appearances.

From 2011 to 2014, Stutts was the athletic director and head basketball coach at Corner School in Birmingham, Alabama, followed by being the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach at Hewitt Trussville High School from 2014 to 2017, just before coming to Freed-Hardeman.

His wife Amanda is a nursing clinical instructor at Freed-Hardeman, and they have two sons, Roman (6) and Deacon (4), and a daughter, Parker, who was just born this year.

@CoachDStutts

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