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Jan.
27, 2010
CollegeInsider.com establishes the Lefty Driesell
Defensive Player of the Year Award
 BOSTON
(MA) -- CollegeInsider.com will honor former
Maryland head coach Lefty Driesell with the creation
of Lefty Driesell Award, which will be presented
annually to the nation’s top division I defensive
player.
“I have always believed that defense wins
championships,” says Driesell. “Defense is a team
effort, but it’s also an individual effort. I had
some great defensive players in my time as a coach
so it’s a great honor to have CollegeInsider.com
name this award on my behalf.”
In his 41 seasons as a head coach, Driesell amassed
786 wins, which ranked him fifth all-time among
division I head coaches when he retired in 2003.
In 2007 Driesell was named to the second class of
the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
“Coach Driesell is winner,” says Joe Dwyer,
co-founder of CollegeInsider.com. “He’s one of the
great coaches of my generation and most certainly
deserves to be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball
Hall of Fame. “
Driesell graduated from Duke with Dean's List honors
in 1954. That same year he began his coaching career
as a junior varsity coach at Granby High School
(Norfolk, VA). Three years later he was named head
coach at Newport News High School, where he
established a school record 57-game winning streak.
In 1960 Driesell joined the collegiate ranks when he
accepted the head coaching position at Davidson
College. Driesell posted a 9-14 record in his first
season at Davidson. He would have only one more
losing season in the 40 years that followed.
In nine seasons at Davidson, Driesell led the
Wildcats to three Southern Conference Championships
and posted an impressive 176-65 record.
Following a successful tenure at Davidson, Driesell
moved on to the University of Maryland where he
would spend the next 17 seasons. Driesell built
Maryland into a perennial contender in the Atlantic
Coast Conference, recruiting such players as Tom
McMillen, Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert King, Buck
Williams, and Len Bias.
Under the guidance of Driesell, Maryland won the
National Invitational Tournament in 1972 and its’
second-ever ACC Tournament Championship in 1984. He
finished his career at Maryland with a 348-159
record.
Following a two-year hiatus from coaching, Driesell
returned to the sidelines in 1988, when he was named
the head coach at James Madison University. He led
the Dukes to five regular season championships in
the Colonial Athletic Association and a berth in the
1994 NCAA Tournament.
Six years later he became one of just three coaches
to take four different programs to the NCAA
Tournament, when he coached Georgia State to the Big
Dance following the 2000-01 season. The Panthers,
who finished 29-5, upset Wisconsin in the first
round of the tournament before falling to the
University of Maryland.
Driesell won 103 games in his six seasons at Georgia
State making him the only coach in Division I
history to win at least 100 games at four different
schools.
Driesell, who is credited with starting the
tradition of “Midnight Madness,” also saved the
lives of at least 10 children from a burning
building on July 12, 1973. He and two other men were
surf fishing around midnight in Bethany Beach,
Delaware when Driesell spotted flames shooting from
a townhouse complex behind them. Driesell broke down
a door and began getting children out. The fire
destroyed four townhouses. For these actions,
Driesell was awarded the NCAA Award of Valor.
“Coach Driesell was one of the finest teachers in
the game,” says Len Elmore. “During his era he
coached some of the outstanding defenders and
rebounders in college basketball. Much of what I
know about the game of basketball I attribute to
him, particularly on the defensive end where I
excelled as a player. It’s only fitting that this
award bears his name.”
Elmore, who is now a college basketball analyst for
ESPN, is one of 21 members of the voting panel,
which includes Rod Barnes (Georgia State), Matt
Brady (James Madison), Adrian Branch (ESPN), Chuck
Driesell (Maryland), Phil Martelli (St. Joseph's),
Bob McKillop (Davidson), Kevin O'Neill (USC), Bill
Self (Kansas), Blaine Taylor (Old Dominion) and
Scott Van Pelt (ESPN).
"From my days of playing basketball, whether in high
school or at Oklahoma State, I knew defense and
Coach Driesell went hand in hand," says Bill Self.
"I hope the recipient of this award will one day
understand the true contributions Lefty made to
college basketball."
The 2010 Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year
Award will presented on April 2 at the Final Four in
Indianapolis, IN.
LEFTY
DRIESELL
AWARD SELECTION COMMITTEE
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Rod Barnes |
Georgia State University |
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Matt Brady |
James Madison University |
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Adrian Branch |
ESPN |
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Bobby Champagne |
University of North Alabama |
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Phil Cunningham |
Mississippi State University |
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Dave Dickerson |
Tulane University |
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Chuck Driesell |
University of Maryland |
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Lefty Driesell |
NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame member |
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Joe Dwyer |
CollegeInsider.com |
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Len Elmore |
ESPN |
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Billy Hahn |
West Virginia University |
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Ron Hunter |
IUPUI |
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Angela Lento |
CollegeInsider.com |
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Phil Martelli |
Saint Joseph's University |
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Bob McKillop |
Davidson College |
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Kevin O'Neill |
University of Southern California |
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Michael Perry |
East Carolina University |
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Bill Self |
University of Kansas |
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Blaine Taylor |
Old Dominion University |
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Scott Van Pelt |
ESPN |
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Travis Williams |
Tennessee State University |
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