Sad News – Duke Blue Devils star man just pass away

Former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell has passed away at the age of 92.

Driesell played basketball at Duke, graduating in 1954, three years before the birth of the ACC. He was something else.

He started his college coaching career at Davidson, where he got the Southern Conference team into the Top Ten.

In 1969, woeful Maryland came calling and Driesell accepted the challenge, promising to turn an overlooked program into the “UCLA of the East.”

He never got to that level, but he turned Maryland into an ACC and national power. The battles between the Terrapins and NC State in the early ‘70’s were legendary.

After that early peak, the Terps were still consistently good and always a tough out. And Driesell’s insane energy level kept the entire conference alternately entertained and outraged.

There was significant controversy during the Herman Veal mess.

Veal was accused of what today would be called sexual assault (then it was called something more like unwanted advances).

Driesell was accused of pressuring Veal’s alleged victim to drop the whole thing. He was investigated and eventually the whole thing kind of faded away. Veal’s reception in Cameron, which was a real turning point for the Cameron Crazies, ironically may have helped to create sympathy for Veal.

And the most devastating thing to happen at Maryland under Driesell, arguably the most devastating event in the history of the ACC, was the death of Len Bias.

Bias died of a cocaine overdose the night he was drafted #1 by the Boston Celtics. Driesell and his program didn’t come out of the investigation very well and he was ultimately forced out as head coach.

After a couple of years, Driesell returned to coaching at James Madison, where he was again successful, though not nearly as much as he had been at Maryland.

He finished up at Georgia State. In 41 years, he only had two losing seasons.

After his retirement, Driesell had a successful run as an ACC broadcaster, where his homespun charm and basketball insights made him a major success.

There are almost too many interesting Lefty angles to get into. There was the Moses Malone recruitment, the rather intense rivalry with Dean Smith, his heroic actions when he rescued about 10 children from a burning house and his amazing accent that completely obscured the fact that his father was a German emigrant.

Then there was the hilarious relationship he had with the Cameron Crazies. That was more one-sided, but still fun. They used to wear bald masks and paint fuel gauges on the front, on empty, naturally. One year, Driesell came with his foot in a cast so, naturally, a number of Crazies did as well.

And lest we forget, Driesell promised once that if he ever won the ACC Tournament (he did), he’d strap the trophy on the hood of his car and drive it around North Carolina (he didn’t).

Driesell provoked people, and he had a lot to answer for in the Veal and Bias situations. His instinct was probably to protect his program, which was not the smart or honorable thing to do in either situation, but when you get past the bluster and the salesmanship and fear in those cases, Driesell was a man who cared about people.

He had a long and apparently happy marriage with his wife, Joyce. And while his actions after Bias’s death were long questioned, a couple of years ago we heard an interview where he was asked about Bias and the man broke down and couldn’t continue.

In the end, good coaching is about how you deal with people. It’s clear that his former players cared about him and it’s also clear that he cared deeply about them.

As for the rest of us, it’s the passing of another ACC legend. He was fun to hate when he was at Maryland, but when you put that aside, he was also easy to adore.

It’s not easy to see a guy like that go. Godspeed to Driesell and his family.