Freed-Hardeman University

Drew Stutts will be entering his seventh season as the head coach for the Freed-Hardeman University Lions entering the 2024-25 season. Stutts is the fastest FHU men's basketball head coach to record 100 wins. He has led the Lions to an impressive record of 109-45 over the past four seasons while consistently playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

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 of 22 3-pointers. Picked to finish 11th out of 12 in the American Midwest Conference, the Lions finished with a 15-7 mark to tie for third place. After missing the previous two conference tournaments, FHU qualified for the tournament as a hosting school.

In his second season at the helm, Stutts navigated the waters of the Mid-South Conference, home of the reigning NAIA champions. Again picked to finish at the bottom of the conference standings, the Lions' 9-7 record had them place fifth where they advanced to the MSC Tournament.

For the 2021-22 season, the Lions again placed fifth in the league, falling in the tournament to Thomas More: who would go on and make the semifinals of the NAIA National Tournament. For the first time in nearly a decade, Stutts' Lions earned an at-large berth to the NAIA National Tournament. Ensuring success for his players not just on the floor, the 2021-22 Lions finished with the most players on the MSC Academic All-Conference Team.

In the 2022-23 campaign, Stutts led the Lions to a 25-9 record where they enjoyed a 13-game win streak, including a perfect 10-0 start to Mid-South Conference play including an 88-59 victory over the No. 2 team in the country. The Lions entered the Top 25 on December 14 with a No. 21 ranking. FHU would skyrocket to be the No. 8 team before finishing the season after five consecutive weeks in the poll at No. 21. After finishing third in the MSC's regular season, the Lions went on a run and won the Mid-South Conference Tournament crown to earn an automatic bid to the National Tournament for the second year in a row. Hosting the first and second rounds in Henderson, the Lions punched their tickets to the NAIA National Tournament's round of 16 held in Kansas City, Missouri. For the second year, FHU had the most student-athletes make the MSC's Academic All-Conference Team.

Stutts led Freed-Hardeman University to their first National Championship in 2023-24. Competing against some of the top talent in the NAIA, Stutts finished the regular season with a share of the Mid-South Conference regular season title before storming through the MSC tournament to cut down the nets for the second successive year. Hosting the first and second rounds of the NAIA tournament as a No. 1 seed, the Lions advanced to Kansas City where they topped the Masters and Central Baptist College before upending the No. 1 Grace Lancers. Down by six with one minute to play, Stutts willed the Lions to defeat the Langston Lions to cut the nets with a national title.

He continued his strong coaching in 2024-25 where he led the Lions to an unprecedented third consectutive Mid-South Conference Championship. In the top 10 the entire season, Stutts and the Lions climbed to hold sole possession of Number 1 for the first time in program history. The Lion advanced to the Fab Four of the NAIA National Championship, marking their third straight trip to Kansas City.
 

Stutts has coached four All-Americans, 10 All-Conference players, the 2022-23 MSC Defensive Player of the Year, and the 2021-22 Freshman of the Year.  

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.

After 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 AHSAA tournament semifinal 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. 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.

His wife, Amanda, is a nursing clinical instructor, and they have two sons, Roman and Deacon, and a daughter, Parker.