Sam Amico
Charles Grice “Lefty” Driesell, the first college basketball coach to win at least 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools, has died. He was 92.
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Driessell was most widely known for his time at Maryland, from 1969-86, when he coached Terrapins legends such as Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert Williams, Buck Williams, Adrian Branch and the late Len Bias.
It was Bias’ death of a cocaine overdose that ultimately led to the end of Bias’ time at Maryland. Bias died the night after the Boston Celtics selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.
Driessell also coached Davidson, James Madison and Georgia State before retiring in 2003. He is credited with starting the Midnight Madness season-opening practice session that has since been adopted by every major program in the country.
Driessell left the game with 21 seasons of 20 or more wins, and 21 conference or conference tournament titles. He played college basketball at Duke University.
His grandson, Ty Anderson, an assistant coach at Wofford, said that Driesell died at his home in Virginia Beach.
Per ESPN:
Before Gary Williams led Maryland to the 2002 NCAA championship, Driesell made the Terrapins relevant.
“Not being afraid to put Maryland’s basketball program out there, that takes some guts to do that,” Williams said. “Obviously, Lefty had that ability. He’s a great recruiter. There’s a lot of those players who are here today, just tremendous players. He was just great for the university and the state of Maryland. If you said ‘Lefty,’ you didn’t have to say anything else. Everybody knew who you were talking about.”
Driesell was known as much for his personality as for his success on the court, with his big, booming voice, his Virginia Tidewater drawl and his comic style of storytelling.
Driesell was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, at the age of 86 — an honor that seemed long overdue. He came to the stage leaning on a walker, accompanied by coaches Mike Krzyzewski, John Thompson and George Raveling, and gave a typically funny, rambling, memorable Driesell speech, interrupted often by laughter from the crowd.
