Great coach. I remember when we beat Maryland at the Summit in the 80s. We harassed Lefty so much that after we won he defiantly gave us the “pinky” (instead of the middle finger). As he stormed off the court, he angrily looked at us & jabbed it high over his head.
I was there too and remember it well. Except I think it was “a different” finger and he smiled at the crowd as he did it. His Terps were as scrappy as their coach.
And I recall him stomping his feet on the floor at the officials.
Good read
Driesell laughed about coining the phrase Midnight Madness, the annual late-night, open-to-the-public practices that Driesell staged at Maryland the minute NCAA rules permitted preseason workouts to start.
“I should have got a patent on it,” he said. “They don’t mention how many top-10 teams I had. They mention Midnight Madness. That’s OK. That’s something that has stuck.”
I love his song, If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time
The UCLA of the East was the line he said when he got hired at Maryland. They never even made a Final Four until he was long gone.
Besides not making a Final Four, THIS clouds his legacy.
Quote: On June 19, 1986, Terrapin star Len Bias died of a cocaine-induced heart attack. The circumstances surrounding Bias’ death threw the University of Maryland and its athletics program into turmoil. A subsequent investigation revealed that Bias was 21 credits short of the graduation requirement despite having attended the university for four full years, exhausting his athletic eligibility; in his final semester, he earned no academic credits, failing three courses and withdrawing from two others. On August 26, 1986, State’s Attorney Arthur A. Marshall Jr. stated that in the hours after Bias’ death, Driesell told players to remove drugs from Bias’ dorm room. Two days later, Bias’ father, James, accused the university and Driesell specifically of neglecting their athletes’ academic status.
Can the man RIP!!
Geez.