Lefty Driesell, the former Maryland men’s basketball coach that lifted the program into national prominence, died on Saturday at 92, per a Maryland athletics release.
Driesell claimed Maryland had “the potential to be the UCLA of the East” at the beginning of his 17-year tenure and led the Terps to a 348-159 record from 1969 to 1986. He coached Maryland to a pair of Elite Eight appearances and boasts the second most wins in program history behind only Gary Williams.
He helped the Terps secure the 1972 NIT championship, the 1984 ACC tournament title, a pair of ACC regular season championships and eight NCAA tournament appearances. The Terps had made only one NCAA tournament appearance before Driesell’s arrival, although the field doubled in size to 32 in 1975 and eventually 64 in 1985.
A historic 31-30 overtime win against No. 2 South Carolina in 1971, Driesell’s first win over a ranked opponent, served as a catalyst for the program’s eventual growth.
[Pandemonium: Maryland men’s basketball’s 31-30 upset over South Carolina, 50 years later]
“Lefty Driesell was a transcendent figure in college basketball and the man who put Maryland basketball on the map,” athletic director Damon Evans said in the release. “A Hall of Famer, Lefty was an innovator, a man who was ahead of his time from his coaching on the court to his marketing off the court.”
Driesell was the first coach to notch more than 100 wins at four Division I schools — Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State — and finished his collegiate coaching career with an overall record of 786-394. His 786 victories currently rank in the top 20 all-time among all NCAA Division I coaches.
The NCAA presented Driesell with an award of valor in 1974 after he broke down a door and rescued at least 10 children from a burning building in Bethany Beach, Delaware.
Following men’s basketball player Len Bias’ death of a cocaine overdose in 1986 and the revelation that five of 12 Maryland players flunked out of school during the spring semester, the school reassigned Driesell into an administrative role in October 1986. He eventually took the head coaching job at James Madison in 1988.
[The loss of a legend: Covering the death of Len Bias at UMD]
It wasn’t the first time Driesell was reprimanded during his Maryland tenure. In March 1983, Driesell repeatedly called a female student the day after a student judiciary board put men’s basketball player Herman Veal on disciplinary probation following the student’s claims that Veal attempted to sexually assault her.
The student claimed Driesell said her “name would be dragged through the mud” if she pursued charges against Veal, but Driesell’s actions resulted in nothing more than a “formal reprimand” from chancellor John Slaughter.
Driesell retired from coaching in the middle of the 2002-03 season while at Georgia State and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
The Terps honored Driesell at halftime during a January loss against Michigan State. His son Chuck Driesell spoke and Maryland showcased its new throwback uniforms during the game, which it will wear again on Saturday against No. 14 Illinois.
