Thursday, December 3, 1998

Success never
spoiled ‘Lefty’

The Georgia State coach has
700 wins, but it's the losses
he remembers most

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

It might seem ironic that a coach who has 700 victories in NCAA basketball has a better memory of his losses.

But the legendary Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell said it's natural for a coach to vividly recall the ones that got away.

"Particularly when they're close," said the 66-year-old Driesell, who will lead Georgia State against Coppin State in the Power Bar Invitational today at 5 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii will face Cal State-Northridge at 7:05 p.m.

That's why, even though he has coached teams here several times, his 1988 trip to the Maui Invitational stands out.

"It was my first year at James Madison University, and we had North Carolina down nine points with 58 seconds left and they beat us on a last-second shot," he said.

But the game no one lets Driesell forget -- the one that is most painfully clear among his memorable defeats -- was a 103-100 overtime loss by his Maryland team to North Carolina in the 1974 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship.

It has been called one of the most exciting games ever played.

And it helped keep intact Driesell's regrettable record of never having made it to the NCAA Final Four.

But Driesell is a walking shrine to the game he loves and is one of only 11 coaches to reach the 700-win plateau (he has 350 losses). Having collected his 700th win Nov. 21 with an 84-74 home court victory over North Florida, he's now in the company of the likes of Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba, Phog Allen, Ray Meyer and Bob Knight.

Does that impress him?

"No, I haven't even thought that much about it," he said in his lead-pipe Virginia drawl. "I'm just trying to get this team to win. We're 1-3 so I'm more concerned about that than I am about anything in the past.

"Like that old saying goes, 'If what you did in the past looks big today, you haven't done much today.' "

Driesell said most of his career has been dedicated to reviving programs that have faltered, and he believes Georgia State has potential.

Inheriting a 10-17 team, he led the Panthers to a single season record-equaling 16 wins during the 1997-98 season.

In a 36-year career, he has coached 17 conference champions, been named conference coach of the year eight times, led teams to 19 postseason appearances and had teams finish nationally ranked 12 times.

Eight of his players were NBA first-round draft picks, including Celtics' pick Len Bias (1986), who died tragically of a cocaine overdose soon after the draft.

Georgia State is Driesell's fourth college coaching job after successful stops at Davidson (1960-69), Maryland (1969-86) and James Madison (1988-97).

Driesell is a rugged individualist who has coached that way and lived his life that way. He has never liked anything that curbed his competitive drive. And that includes present-day rules on recruiting that inhibit his ability to beat out other recruiters to available talent.

"The NCAA does nothing to create parity," he said.

"All these new rules that you can't recruit a guy except certain times of the year and you can't call a guy. You used to be able to recruit when you wanted to, and do what you wanted to. Now you can't outwork people."

Another thing Driesell growls about is the decline of offensive basketball.

"The game needs to be changed to go back to like it used to be. What did Cincinnati beat Duke by the other day? The big games between the top teams are in the 50s and 60s and some are in the 40s.

"That's not playing basketball to me. I think you need to do something to score more points. Even in the pros they're not scoring as many points a game. I think there are too many set plays and you turn the ball over four or five times before you get a good shot.

"I prefer a running, fast breaking game. I think the game is being overcoached now."