VIRGINIA BEACH (WTKR) — Norfolk native Lefty Driesell, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member and one of college basketball's greatest winners, died on Saturday at his home in Virginia Beach, his family announced.
He was 92 years old.
A Granby High School graduate, Driesell played his college basketball at Duke University from 1951-1954 before contributing to the game in a different role.
He first became a coach after he graduated from Duke back in Norfolk, taking over as a junior varsity coach for Granby. He was elevated to the Comets varsity leader in 1957. The school dedicated it's basketball court to Driesell in 2022. He then went to Newport New High School where he'd first enter the VHSL record books. He led the team to a 57-game winning streak, the fourth longest in state history.
That catapulted him to the college ranks, first taking over at Davidson. In nine seasons with the Wildcats, he guided the program to a 176-65 record with five regular season SoCon titles and three league tournament championships.
In 1969, Driesell left for the ACC and Maryland. What followed was a 17 season tenure that saw the Terrapins go 348-159, win the 1984 ACC Tournament and claim two league regular titles. Maryland would make eight NCAA Tournaments under his leadership, including two trips to the Elite Eight and three Sweet 16 births.
Driesell's time at Maryland was ended in 1986 after the death of then No. 2 pick of the Boston Celtics Len Bias. A grand jury investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing but he was still moved to an assistant athletic director position.
He resumed his coaching career at James Madison in 1988, winning five Colonial Athletic Association regular season crowns with the Dukes. They'd make four trips to the NIT and earn a spot in the 1994 NCAA Tournament with Driesell at the helm.
His final stop was at Georgia State, spending six seasons with the Panthers and once again showing off his winning ways. He'd lead GSU to four Atlantic Sun regular season titles and in the 2000-2001 season, the team went 29-5. Georgia State would knock off Wisconsin as an 11-seed in that year's NCAA Tournament before bowing out in a game against Maryland in the next round.
Driesell retired ten games into the 2002-2003 season with his final record sitting at 786-394. When he called it a career, Driesell was men's college basketball's fourth winningest coach. He currently sits 16th on the list.
The honors poured in after he hung up the whistle. Driesell was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and in 2018, he took his place in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and honored again by the organization at an event in 2019.
In total, Driesell college coaching tenure included 21 seasons of 20 wins or more and 21 regular season or tournament conference titles.
