Casey Shaw, brother-in-law of Bryce Drew, named next Davidson Academy boys basketball coach

Tom Kreager
The Tennessean

When Davidson Academy athletics director Kevin Harper told his 6-year-old son that he was stepping down as the Bears' boys basketball coach recently, he immediately threw out a suggestion.

Former Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew.

He was close – he had the right family.

Casey Shaw – Drew's brother-in-law – was named the next Davidson Academy boys basketball coach on Tuesday.

Shaw was part of Drew's staff the past three years at Vanderbilt. Drew was fired after this past season when the Commodores went 9-23 with a 20-game losing streak, the longest in Vanderbilt men's basketball history.

The Commodores went 0-18 in league play and were the SEC's first winless team in conference play in 65 years.

Vanderbilt assistant coach Casey Shaw talks with Simi Shittu during summer workouts. Shaw has taken the head coaching job at Davidson Academy.

Shaw has three sons attending Davidson Academy. Isaiah Shaw was a sophomore guard this past season. Caleb Shaw will be a sophomore, and Luke will be an eighth-grader.

Shaw was the 37th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. He had an 11-year international professional career after a brief stint in the NBA. His professional career came after scoring 1,562 points and grabbing 871 rebounds at Toledo.

Harper said he has three young children and wanted to relieve himself of some of his extra-curricular activities.

"Both jobs are very time consuming," Harper said. "We were able to turn a bad situation for them at Vanderbilt to a good opportunity to help get our program to a new level."

Shaw is the second professional athlete on Davidson Academy's staff as a head coach, joining football coach Jonathan Quinn, who was an NFL quarterback, and led the Bears to a Division II-A state championship in 2018.

"It's nice to have a former NFL quarterback and a former NBA player on our coaching staff," Harper said.

Davidson Academy finished 17-9 this past season and lost to CPA in the DII-A Middle Region quarterfinals.

As for Bryce Drew helping out, that is unlikely, Shaw said. But there is a chance his father-in-law, former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew, might help. 

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.