NCAA basketball: Ranking the 25 best college basketball coaches ever

No. 15: Lefty Driesell

Charles “Lefty” Driesell is perhaps best known for his successes during his tenure as coach of the Maryland Terrapins, where he won an NIT title and made a massive eight NCAA tournaments, twice taking a Maryland program that has often struggled in the recruiting and performance through its history.

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina back in 1962, Driesell went on to be a solid player of his own right during his playing time with the Duke Blue Devils. He then worked his way up through the ranks, starting out as a high school head coach for five years, before moving to Davidson, ahead of his longest stint as a coach at Maryland.

Lefty is also noteworthy for being one of the few coaches to rack up at least 100 wins at multiple schools, of which he brought his total to an even more impressive number: four. He’s so far been successful at reaching the century mark at Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State.

Our pal Lefty comes in at No. 10 on the all-time wins list, and also was awarded the NCAA Award of Valor in 1974 for breaking into a burning building and rescuing children from the flames.

ACC Tournament champion in 1984 and two-time ACC Coach of the Year are other awards to add to this list, grabbing Driesell a spot on our rankings.