By the end of the 2023-2024 season, the First Baptist Academy Lions of Naples had clinched the Private 8 Conference title, closing out yet another successful season with veteran coach Scott Stewart. The Michigan-born, Collier County-raised trainer played guard for the University of Florida (UF) in the early ‘90s—scoring 17 points as a freshman when his Gators toppled the second-ranked Shaquille O’Neal- and Chris Jackson-led Louisiana State University squad.
After college, he played pro for 12 seasons, traveling to more than 40 countries, including New Zealand, where he met his wife, Margaret. The couple moved back to Naples to start a family and Scott joined First Baptist’s middle school team. A year later, he shepherded the school’s addition of a high school varsity program.
His return represented a big homecoming for the Stewart family—Scott grew up playing at Lely High School for his dad, Don, the beloved coaching legend who won 456 games and eight district titles during his nearly three-decade career. In 2010, a year after Don retired from Lely, Scott asked his dad to join him on the court, and Don remains by his side as an assistant coach.
At 53, Scott is a proud father of six (three boys and three girls) and has coached two of his sons. Intentional and meticulous in his approach to the game and his players, Scott uses the knowledge he gained from his father and his faith to mentor the teenagers on his roster.
Photography by Brian Tietz
The father of six was a guard for the University of Florida in the early ‘90s and played pro for 12 seasons.
You have to work to develop a good culture. In my first three years at First Baptist, we were in the trenches. Any positive, competitive culture starts with commitment—a responsibility to the sport and our future in it. And it wasn’t that way when I arrived; it was more of a casual intramural atmosphere—less competitive, more relaxed. We built the culture together, emphasizing continuous improvement, resilience and a growth mindset. We focused on character and sportsmanship, how players treat one another, and eventually, we started winning.
Some principles our team lives by are from the great University of California Los Angeles coach John Wooden, an inspiration of mine, who believed coaching should be about the athlete, not the teacher. “Perform at your best when your best is required. Your best is required each day,” he says. To me, that is the root of competitive greatness. You’re not focused on beating someone else but on doing your best every day. It’s about looking inward and beginning every interaction from a place of respect—for yourself and others.
Being a father of three boys and three girls helps me connect with my teen players. As a father, I take lessons I learn at home and bring them to the court, and vice versa. It all builds empathy and helps me relate and connect with the next generation.
We usually learn more from a loss than a win—as much as we hate to lose, it’s true. But, when we do, we get refocused and more detailed with our corrections. We break down what we need to do to win the next one, point by point, and funnel that energy into our goals, which we write on our board.
Work ethic is the number one skill you gain from basketball. My approach relies on the idea that fundamentals always continue to be important. If you focus on the fundamentals, even if it seems like a silly drill you’ve done a thousand times, you get better and better from repetition.
I hope the boys walk away with the same things my father instilled in his athletes: a strong work ethic, a sense of integrity and passion, and the importance of being a teammate. [He taught us to] never stop being students of the game—even me, even now. There’s always more to learn.
Photography by Brian Tietz
Last season, Coach Stewart led the Lions to claim the Southwest Florida Private 8 Conference title.