Maryland basketball to honor Lefty Driesell at Michigan State game

Maryland men's basketball will look to bounce back with a win at home against Michigan State on Sunday, and they'll do so as they welcome former head coach Lefty Driesell back to College Park with plans to honor the legend. Beginning in 1969, Driesell led Maryland to a 348-159 overall record and sits second in program history in wins. As head coach of the Terps for nearly two decades, Driesell led Maryland to eight NCAA Tournaments, including four consecutive appearances to end his career, along with winning the 1972 NIT Championship, 1984 ACC Tournament championship and a pair of ACC regular season titles. While Maryland has still never been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, Maryland was ranked as high as second nationally for four consecutive years from 1972 to 1976 Len Bias, Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, Albert King, Ernie Graham and Buck Williams were among the long list of players under Driesell, who was named ACC Coach of the Year twice and was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame back in 2018. "People will never remember that it took 15 years to get into the Hall of Fame," McMillen said at the time. "What they will remember is the reasons why he got it into the Hall of Fame. The thing that I'm most proud of with Lefty is he was willing to stand up for what he believed in when it was not easy. He brought Mike Maloy to Davidson as its first black player in 1966 and brought on George Ravling as the first black coach in the ACC. Those qualities really defined him. He believed in social justice and believed that everybody deserves a chance. In your 41 years as a coach you've demonstrated leadership, humanity and so many great qualities – but most of all it was what you believed in with your players." Driesell was also the pioneer behind "Midnight Madness," a tradition that's now become an afterthought under the current Maryland administration. Driesell began his coaching career at Davidson back in 1960 and finished 9-14 overall, his first of only two losing seasons in his 41 seasons of coaching. Driesell became one of just three coaches at the time to take four different programs to the NCAA Tournament when he guided Georgia State to the postseason in the 2000-01 season. Driesell is also the only coach in Division I history to win at least 100 games at four different schools. At the time of his retirement in 2003, Driesell amassed the fifth-most wins among Division I head coaches with 786. Maryland previously announced plans to wear a signature 'throwback' uniform paying tribute to the 1970s teams, donning script 'Maryland' that was used during the Driesell era. Fans are also able to purchase a replica of the iconic jersey on Fanatics. "I’m just excited to recognize and to honor Lefty and those players who played in that era. I mean, wow. What a job that he did for us while he was here putting this program on the map. He's always talking about making us the UCLA of the East and the number tournament appearances, the number of ACC championships, the number of high rankings. He was the best, fantastic for us. So extremely honored," AD Damon Evans said on Thursday. "Yeah, you’re right. Now if we can’t get up for the game on Sunday, then something’s wrong. We need to go out there and represent this program and take care of business against Michigan State. And they’re going to be a formidable opponent. You know, Izzo will have them ready and they’re going to come in here to try to kick our you know what. So I’m confident in that we’ll be prepared and honor Lefty the right way.” Related Links

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