Charles “Lefty” Driesell was a legendary college basketball coach known for his team-building skills, leading to over 100 wins with four different schools.
- Died: February 17, 2024 (Who else died on February 17?)
- Details of death: Died in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at the age of 92.
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“Lefty” Driesell’s legacy
Better known as Lefty, the Norfolk, Virginia-born Driesell was an All-State basketball player at Granby High School who helped lead his team to a state championship, winning the tournament MVP in the process. He also played at Duke University but instead of going pro after graduation, he worked for Ford Motor Company and briefly played semi-pro on the side before switching to coaching.
In 1960, Driesell assumed the head coach mantle at Davidson. From the start of his tenure until 1969, he led the team to five regular season championships and three Southern Conference tournaments, winning four straight Coach of the Year awards. He then joined the University of Maryland, College Park, where he led the team to eight NCAA tournament appearances and pushed them to a No. 2 ranking by the Associated Press four seasons in a row.
In 1988, Driesell moved to James Madison University, where the team won five regular season championships. He then went to Georgia State in 1997, helping the team earn four regular season championships in six years. He retired after six years with the fourth highest number of wins in NCAA Division I – 786 in all – and was the only coach to ever win at least 100 games with at least four teams.
Driesell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. He is also in the Virginia Sports, National Collegiate Basketball, University of Maryland Athletic, Hampton Roads Sports, and Southern Conference Halls of Fame. Each year since 2010, the best defensive player in NCAA Division I basketball receives the Lefty Driesell Award.
On being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:
“I was thinking about all of my players, you know. I’ll be in the Hall of Fame for my grandchildren … my great grandchildren. It’s just the biggest honor you can get as a basketball coach.”—from a 2018 interview for PressBox
Tributes to Charles ‘Lefty’ Driesell
Full obituary: ESPN
