On the brink of final coaching season, Provo's Drury still focused on the future

PROVO — Provo High School coach Craig Drury was on the brink of tears on Senior Night this week, but it wasn’t just because his school honored the Bulldogs’ six-player senior class.

After 42 years coaching high school basketball in Utah, including 40 at his alma mater, the winningest Class 4A coach in UHSAA state boys basketball history was calling it a career.

Has the finality of the moment sunk in? For the current Provo athletic director who has lived his coaching life constantly looking toward the next year, “not even close” — the Bulldogs, after all, are still preparing for their first-round Class 4A state tournament matchup Tuesday against Region 5 champion Logan at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

“I’ve never really considered anything other than I want to win another (state title),” Drury said after his Bulldogs’ clinched Region 8’s fourth seed with a 77-74 win over Salem Hills. “That’s your goal as a coach, to win another one. That’s your goal as coach, to win another one. If you dwell in the past, you live in the past and your teams aren’t as good.

“I’ve always tried to live in the future, and I’ll try to be in here this year.”

Drury started his career at Bountiful High School, where he worked as an assistant coach for two seasons before returning home to Provo, where he graduated high school in 1970 — alongside close friend and Utah State head coach Stew Morrill. After eight seasons as an assistant in Provo, Drury accepted the head coaching job in 1983 and has stuck — through 32 years, a state-record eight state titles and 526 career wins. Provo’s 17 total championships also ranks most in state history.

Drury’s current spell of wins ranks fifth-most in state history, and the most of any current 4A school.

On Friday night, the school honored him with a personalized jersey and nearly 100 former players packing the school’s main gym. Through the championship rings (which he never wears) and the trips to the University of Utah or Weber State for state finals, it’s those relationships with his players that he’ll remember more than anything else.

“I was extremely emotional, extremely grateful and extremely honored,” Drury said of seeing so many former players and family members from as far as Alaska and Michigan. “Some of those boys I had run a lot of ladders. Some of those boys played awfully hard, and I love them dearly. Some of them I didn’t hardly recognize …. Some of them are 50-something years old, because I’ve been around for a long time.”

The coach and his players won championships in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2008. He’s won them in every way — from being the odds-on favorite to sneaking into the playoffs as the final seed from the region, as the Bulldogs will do in 2015.

Drury said he’ll probably stick around Provo for at least a few more years as the school’s athletic director. He may even make an appearance into practice on occasion and help mentor a player every now and then. But when he shows up to the Bulldogs’ gym on Friday nights, he’s looking forward to sitting in the stands and heckling the coaching staff — just to see what that’s like, he said with his dry humor.

“If I could work in practice and not coach games, I might not quit,” he added. “I love practices, I love working with them.”

For now, though, Drury will spend more time with his wife, Robin, and the couple’s four recently purchased horses — feeding them, but never riding them.

“In order to be a coach for any length of time, you have to have a great spouse. They have to support you,” Drury said. “If your spouse cannot support you, you cannot coach. I’ve had a lot of great coaches I’ve known who couldn’t stay in the game because they didn’t have the support from their spouse.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better spouse; Robin’s a great lady, and I love her dearly. She supports me and allows me to play.”

Contributing: Matt Glade, Spencer Hall

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