Hall of Fame Coach Lefty Driesell Dead at 92: ‘A Transcendent Figure in College Basketball’

Driesell was known for building the University of Maryland's basketball team into a powerhouse and inventing 'Midnight Madness'

Hall of Fame coach Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell has died at the age of 92.

The renowned coach, who helped build the University of Maryland’s basketball team into a national powerhouse, died on Saturday morning, according to the university.

"Driesell was a legend in the sport who left an indelible mark on Maryland basketball and the college basketball community as a whole," the university said in a news release.

Damon Evans, the Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics at Maryland, described Driesell in a statement in the release as "a transcendent figure in college basketball and the man who put Maryland basketball on the map" during his tenure as the team's coach.

"A Hall of Famer, Lefty was an innovator, a man who was ahead of his time from his coaching on the court to his marketing off the court," Evans added.

Driesell, who was born in Norfolk, Va., and played basketball at Duke University, went on to have a stellar coaching career. By the time he retired, he had won 786 games and was the first and only coach to lead four different Division I schools to 100 victories in basketball, according to The Washington Post.

His road to success began when he took his first coaching job at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1960. He spent nine years at the school, leading the basketball team to a 176-65 record.

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Driesell took on the head men’s basketball coach role at the University of Maryland in 1969 and, for the next decade and a half, transformed the team into a winning squad. Prior to his recruitment, the school had only entered the NCAA tournament once in 46 years, but he was able to turn that around.

Under his direction, the Maryland Terrapins made eight NCAA tournament appearances and won a National Invitation Tournament championship, two Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles and an ACC tournament crown, according to ESPN. He also led the team to a 348-159 record.

Driesell was also known for inventing the tradition of “Midnight Madness,” per The Washington Post, after reportedly making his players run a mile on the track inside the Maryland football stadium just three minutes after the first official day of NCAA practice.

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In 1986, he ended his tenure as Maryland's coach following the death of one of his players, Len Bias, from a cocaine overdose, per ESPN. Driesell was cleared of any wrongdoing in Bias' death but was reassigned to another role in the athletics department.

Driesell left Maryland in 1988 to become coach at James Madison and led the team to an NCAA appearance and five Colonial Athletic Association regular-season championships, per the outlet. He coached for nine seasons before leaving in 1995 with a 159-111 record.

He then went on to coach Georgia State for six seasons, obtaining a record of 103-59, before retiring in 2003, according to ESPN.

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Four years later, Driesell was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame and then was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

“His contributions to the game go way beyond wins and losses, and he won a lot,” former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said during the induction ceremony, per Deadline. “It’s an honor he’s deserved for a long time.”

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