What he did: The last time Georgia State went to the NCAA Tournament in 2001, Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell took the Panthers on an incredible ride, winning 29 games, including a first-round 50-49 upset of Wisconsin. GSU would fall in the second round to Maryland, the school that Driesell made into a national power. But it was a March to remember for the big city college, which prior to that had been to the Big Dance just once (1991).
Driesell brought respectability to the GSU program, winning 103 games and three regular-season Atlantic Sun titles before retiring in 2003. But what a career: From inventing the idea of Midnight Madness to coaching some great teams at Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State.
Driesell is from Norfolk,Va., where he got started in sports as early as fourth grade as a manager for the high school football team. It was a buddy who worked with him one summer, barefooted on the sidelines, that named him “Lefty.’’
Driesell said: “His name was Barney Gill and he had a name for everyone. One of our friends had buck teeth and he named him ‘Beaver.’ I was left-handed so that made it easy on him.’’
Driesell would end up playing basketball at Duke, graduating in 1954 before taking a desk job with a salary of $6,200. But he wanted to get back into sports so he took a $3,000 pay cut to take the first of two high school coaching jobs. The second position was at Newport News (Va.) High School, where his teams would win 57 straight games. He wanted to advance to the college level and it was the athletic director at Duke (Eddie Cameron, for whom the arena is named) who got him the job at Davidson.
He coached there for 10 seasons and built a Southern Conference power, winning five league titles and developing what would be his sometimes outlandish personality. For instance, he promised recruit Don Davidson that he would put his name on the front of his jersey if he came to play for him. Davidison did.
Driesell left for Maryland in 1969, claiming to make it the “UCLA of the East.’’ Maryland never won the NCAA but his teams won the 1972 NIT, two regular-season ACC titles, one ACC tournament title and made eight NCAA tournament appearances.
He remained 17 years at Maryland before the June 1986 cocaine-related death of perhaps his greatest player, Len Bias, who had just been selected second in the NBA draft by Boston. An investigation by the university determined Driesell’s program stressed athletics over academics and he subsequently resigned to become an assistant athletic director.
Four years later, he returned to coaching at James Madison where he won five Colonial Athletic Conference titles and took the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament in 1996.
He then came to Georgia State in 1997. When he retired six years later, he stood No. 4 on the career victories list with a 786-394 record over 41 years. The only Division I coaches ahead of him were Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, and Bob Knight. He is also the only coach to win at least 100 games at four different colleges. He is in numerous halls of fames but wonders why he hasn’t made it into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Some feel it is because of the Bias incident, while others believe it’s because he never took a team to the Final Four, much less won a national title.
Where he lives: He has been married to his high school sweetheart Joyce for 62 years and lives in Virginia Beach, Va. They have four children — Chuck, Pam, Patty and Carolyn — and 11 grandchildren.
What he does now: Driesell, 83, is retired but still watches a lot of basketball on television. Last year marked the first time he didn't go to the Final Four in 50 years.
On following Georgia State: "I talk to coach (Ron) Hunter to all the time. He has done a great job, though he needs to be careful to not jump so high when they win so he doesn't hurt himself. I remember rupturing my Achilles. It was right after Thanksgiving in the 1970's and we decided to have a three-on-three pickup game at Maryland (Cole Fieldhouse). The next day we were playing Notre Dame. I thought somebody had shot me when it happened but I couldn't get surgery right away or I would miss the game. I coached the game, which we won, in a wheelchair.''
On what he remembers most about GSU: "The only time I won that many games (29) in my career, I was at State. I remember when the president hired me and said, 'You are coming to the worst basketball program in the country.' He said we could go undefeated for 20 years and still not have a winning record. I remember the NCAA game against Maryland and I was a man-to-man guy. We were down by four at half and I decided I was going to mess them up and run a 1-3-1 (zone) with the top guy guarding (All-American) Juan Dixon. It was a mistake on my part because we hadn't practiced it much.''
On starting Midnight Madness: "When I got to Maryland, we would make the team run a mile the first day of practice. It always had to be under six minutes or they would do it before each practice until they made it. There was a lot of excitement going into the 1971 season with Len Elmore and Tom McMillen so I decided we would run the mile at midnight and then practice. That night, there were a bunch of students out there at the track watching and I realized how excited they were so I started making it an annual thing."
On not being in the Naismith Hall: "It mystifies me. I don't know why. I have been a finalist twice and I am in about every hall out there. I have more wins than the last five coaches that have gotten in and I didn't get them at UCLA or Duke or North Carolina. I never cheated or had any NCAA violations. That's the only thing that bothers me about my legacy. There are some people say I am not in because of the Bias tragedy.''
On Bias: "I miss Lenny Bias. He was a great kid and I think he is the only player that I had that dominated practice so much that I had to bring him over to the bench to sit by me so we could get something done. It was a terrible situation with his death. Here is someone that went to church every Sunday, one of the hardest workers I ever had and a lot of people don't realize he didn't start his first 20 games as a freshman. But he worked until he made the lineup. I am not saying he would have been a LeBron James but he would have been similar. He could shoot over anyone and that was when we didn't have the three-point shot. He was also the best at catching the alley-oop pass and dunking it. I think about him all the time.''
