Sunday, January 5, 2003
ATLANTA (AP) -- Lefty Driesell once said he didn't know what he would do without college basketball. Now, the game he loved will have to do without him.
In his familiar drawl, Driesell gave a simple reason for retiring after four decades as one of the nation's most successful college coaches: He's tired.
Driesell, who turned 71 on Christmas, stepped down Friday from Georgia State, finishing with 786 victories -- fifth-most on the Division I list and third among active coaches. His teams played in the NCAA tournament 13 times.
He hadn't been feeling well lately, and he told his wife it was time to step down.
"I woke up New Year's Day and I told Joyce, 'I've worked 49 years, and most people retire after 25 years. I'm just tired and I've got this bad cold and I'm just going to retire,' " Driesell said. "I'm looking forward to not having a job. I can get up when I want to and do what I want to."
Driesell, who also coached at Davidson, Maryland and James Madison, is the only coach to win at least 100 games at four schools, and is one of three to take that many schools to the NCAA tournament.
Despite his record, Driesell never took a team to the Final Four, and he will be probably be best remembered as the coach at Maryland when All-America Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.
He said he hasn't ruled out coaching again, but for now he wants to spend time with Joyce at his beach home in Virginia.