TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted February 17 I know this is a TU board, but I hope the moderator & my fellow Tigers will indulge me to acknowledge the passing at age 92 of the legendary Charles “Lefty” Driesell, my favorite college basketball coach (of course Skerry is a close second 😆). I can still see in my minds eye Lefty stomping on the sidelines, waving the “V” for victory sign with his hands, while the band blared “Amen.” He never did make MD the “UCLA of the East,” but he did win the NIT, and if the NCAA hadn’t had that ridiculous rule that only 1 team from a conference could go to the dance, his 74 team, which lost arguably the greatest college basketball game ever, 103-100, to David “Skywalker” Thompson’s NC State squad in the ACC championship game, he just might have gotten that national championship. (He also might have gotten one if the Utah Stars of the ABA hadn’t lured Moses Malone away from College Park). How’s this for an all-Lefty MD team: Tom McMillan, Buck Williams, Len Bias, Adrian Branch and John Lucas. And fill out the roster with Len Elmore, Albert King, Steve Shepard, Brad Davis, Ernest Graham, Keith Gatlin, Larry Gibson and Lawrence Boston. Not too shabby. I’ve no doubt Dean Smith and Norm Sloan are waiting for Lefty at the pearly gates, to renew their rivalries 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,237 Report post Posted February 17 Underrated coach and great character. I was at Maryland the year he was forced to resign in 1986. One of those coaches you don't appreciate until they stopped coaching. Won 100 games at Davidson, Md., JMU and Georgia State. So many great stories. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted February 17 2 minutes ago, mat1992 said: Underrated coach and great character. I was at Maryland the year he was forced to resign in 1986. One of those coaches you don't appreciate until they stopped coaching. Won 100 games at Davidson, Md., JMU and Georgia State. So many great stories. He was the scapegoat for the Len Bias tragedy. I can still remember some press conference he gave where he proclaimed, in that southern drawl of his “ah can coach.” Also remember some Wake Forest kids holding up a picture of Lefty’s bald head, on which they superimposed a gas gauge, with the needle on E, for empty 😆. I still miss those ACC doubleheaders on Saturday afternoons, sponsored by Holly Farms chicken and Jefferson Pilot (sail with the Pilot), and announced by Thacker and Packer, and the great Bones McKinney Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,237 Report post Posted February 17 Those were the days I think you also could spell "cat" and get into school as a basketball player. Lefty was the scapegoat because most of his players were failing out of school yet in the 70s, he had guys like Tom McMillen and Len Elmore, a Rhodes Scholar and a lawyer/agent. I was there in College Park after Bias died and it was a mess and skipped class to see his final press conference. Unfortunately, was remembered for Bias, but now at least he gets his "flowers" for Midnight Madness, all those NCAA trips with different schools, the 1974 team that lost to NC State in overtime in the ACC final and couldn't make the NCAA Trny, the "UCLA of the East" comment. His hatred of Dean Smith, etc. He did play Towson at the Towson Center with JMU I think in the late 90s. By then, he was nearly forgotten because the crowd was pretty weak though I thought they did a poor job of marketing that game. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
