At the end of Charles “Lefty” Driesell’s life — when he was bedridden and sometimes unable to pick up his phone — his children, Chuck and Pam, would go through their father’s missed calls. They’d listen to the voicemails and tell Driesell who had reached out. Sometimes, he would request to speak with specific people.

Buzz Williams was one of them.

Chuck Driesell doesn’t know exactly when the friendship started between his dad and Maryland men’s basketball’s new coach. What he does know is that his father, who died in February 2024, would have been “ecstatic” to hear Williams was hired in April to lead the Terps.

“He thought the world of Buzz,” Chuck Driesell told The Diamondback.

Lefty Driesell coached men’s basketball at Maryland from 1969 to 1986, leading the Terps to eight NCAA tournament appearances. His son recalled sitting on the Cole Field House bench as a 6-year-old to becoming a Terp himself and playing for his dad from 1981 to 1985. He then served as an assistant coach on Gary Williams’ staff from 2006 to 2010.

Chuck Driesell, who now coaches basketball at the Maret School in Washington, D.C., said being a Terp is in his blood. When he found out Williams was set to fill the spot left by Kevin Willard, he immediately sent him a congratulatory text.

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Buzz Williams revealed what Chuck Driesell said to him in that text in an interview last month with Johnny Holliday: “My dad’s rejoicing in heaven.” The younger Driesell didn’t share specifics from the exchange, but said he wanted Williams to know his dad would have thought it was a “great hire — not a good hire, a great hire.”

Buzz Williams was not made available for an interview for this story.

The pair met while Williams was a coach at Virginia Tech and Chuck Driesell was at The Citadel. The two schools played each other in 2014, and although the coaches didn’t stay in regular contact after that, Chuck Driesell said they always had “mutual respect for each other.”

Buzz Williams said he wrote to Lefty Driesell for 20 years. While at Virginia Tech, Williams put the retired coach’s address on his mailing list, so he received various letters, media guides and motivational messages.

“Oftentimes, my dad would tell me, ‘I got a really cool thing from Buzz, I want to send it to you,’” Chuck Driesell said. “When I would visit my dad, I would see the things that Buzz had sent him, often handwritten notes. And, you know, that was important to my dad. He appreciated it.”

The friendship continued until the very end of Lefty Driesell’s life.

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“How many times they spoke on the phone during those times, those years? I don’t know,” Chuck Driesell said. “But I do know that at the end, they were still speaking.”

Lefty Driesell wasn’t the only former Maryland coach who Williams admired. He also wrote to Gary Williams, and the two formed a relationship dating back to Williams’ time at Marquette in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Gary Williams said at Williams’ introductory press conference last month that he was “very happy” with the hire.

Buzz Williams didn’t bring up his relationships with the former coaches during the hiring process, he said in the interview with Holliday. He didn’t want to use them as a way to influence the hiring group’s decision. Nonetheless, Williams having earned the approval of two of the Terps’ most successful coaches bodes well for his chances of succeeding in College Park.

“I think it’s a good connection to all the different eras that have been at Maryland, dating back to when my dad was there,” Chuck Driesell said. “Based on what I know of Buzz, he’ll grow it because he’s genuine. He’s a people person. So I think that that is going to certainly be a benefit to the overall program.”