Chuck Driesell

{{short description|American basketball player-coach}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Chuck Driesell

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| current_title = Head coach

| current_team = Maret School

| current_conference = Mid-Atlantic Athletic

| current_record =

| contract =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|11|3}}

| birth_place = Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1981–1985

| player_team1 = Maryland

| player_positions = Shooting guard

| coach_years1 = 1985–1988

| coach_team1 = Naval Academy Prep

| coach_years2 = 1989–1996

| coach_team2 = {{cbb link|team=James Madison Dukes|title=James Madison}} (assoc. HC)

| coach_years3 = 1997–2003

| coach_team3 = Marymount

| coach_years4 = 2003–2004

| coach_team4 = Georgetown (asst./RC)

| coach_years5 = 2004–2006

| coach_team5 = Bishop Ireton HS

| coach_years6 = 2006–2010

| coach_team6 = Maryland (asst.)

| coach_years7 = 2010–2015

| coach_team7 = The Citadel

| coach_years8 = 2015–present

| coach_team8 = Maret HS

| overall_record = 130–185

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record = 0–1 (NCAA D-III)

| championships =

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

Charles William Driesell (born November 3, 1962){{cite web|title=Charles William "Chuck" Driesell|url=https://archive.org/details/universityof19811982unse|website=Maryland Basketball 1981-82|publisher=University of Maryland College Park|access-date=July 6, 2014|pages=30–31|year=1981}} is an American basketball coach who is the boys' varsity basketball head coach at the Maret School in Washington, D.C. Formerly a college basketball coach, Driesell served as an assistant coach under Gary Williams at the University of Maryland, spent six seasons as head coach at Marymount University (1997 to 2003), and was head coach at The Citadel from 2010 to 2015. He is the son of former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, and played for his father's team in college. Driesell was named the new boys' basketball coach at the Maret School in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 2015.

Early life and college

Driesell was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, the son of Davidson College basketball coach Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell. As a child, Chuck was a water boy and ball boy while his father served as the long-time head basketball coach at the University of Maryland. Lefty Driesell coached there from 1969 to 1986 and invented the "Midnight Madness" rally.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/ncb/s/2000/1011/812806.html |title=Lefty's midnight run started all the Madness |publisher=ESPN |date=October 13, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326190934/http://espn.go.com/ncb/s/2000/1011/812806.html |archive-date=March 26, 2008 }}

Chuck attended the University of Maryland, and played on the basketball team coached by his father as a shooting guard from 1981 to 1985. Driesell participated in four postseason tournaments (one NIT and three NCAA) and was also a member of the 1984 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship team. Driesell received Academic All-American honors and made the ACC Honor Roll three years. He graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in business marketing.{{cite web|url=http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=207383130|title=Chuck Driesell|publisher=University of Maryland|access-date=April 25, 2015|date=2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927080152/http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=207383130|archive-date=September 27, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Coaching career

After college, Driesell served three years in the United States Navy and attained the rank of lieutenant. He coached the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS) from 1985 to 1988 and compiled a 40–29 record. In 1989, he joined his father, Lefty, as the associate head coach at {{cbb link|team=James Madison Dukes|title=James Madison}}. He coached there until 1994, and during that time, the Dukes won five consecutive outright or shared Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season championships, which was an NCAA record at the time. James Madison participated in the 1994 NCAA tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by third-seeded Florida, an eventual semifinalist team.

From 1997 to 2003, Driesell was the head coach at Marymount University, a Division III school in Arlington, Virginia. In 1999, he also assumed the role of assistant athletic director. During his six-year tenure as head coach, the Saints compiled an 88–72 record, and secured the 2000 Capital Athletic Conference tournament championship and the team's first-ever bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. During the 2003–04 season, he worked at Georgetown as the Hoyas' recruiting coordinator and an assistant coach. From 2004 to 2006, he was the head coach of the Bishop Ireton High School basketball team.

In 2006, Driesell was hired by Gary Williams as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland, the alma mater of both men. Williams said Driesell was hired strictly on his merits, and said, "Chuck was hired based on what he was as a basketball coach. Naturally, genes don't hurt, but I wouldn't hire someone just because he is someone's son if I didn't think he was a very good basketball coach."{{cite news|author=Eric Prisbell|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201552.html|title=C. Driesell is hired as Maryland assistant|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 3, 2006}} Driesell replaced Rob Moxley who left for a position at the UNC Charlotte.{{cite news|url=http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2006/06/08/Sports/Terps.Hire.Chuck.Driesell.To.Fill.Assistant.Coach.Spot-2325636.shtml|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110807061327/http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2006/06/08/Sports/Terps.Hire.Chuck.Driesell.To.Fill.Assistant.Coach.Spot-2325636.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2011|title=Terps hire Chuck Driesell to fill assistant coach spot|newspaper=The Diamondback|date=June 8, 2006}} Driesell served as Maryland's lead recruiting coordinator and was the assistant coach responsible for "advance scouting, player development, and game preparation."

On April 28, 2010, Driesell was hired as head coach of The Citadel.{{cite news |title=Chuck Driesell to coach The Citadel |author=Jeff Barker |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=2010-04-26 |access-date=2010-04-26 |url=http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2010/04/chuck_driesell_expected_to_coach_the_citadel.html}}{{cite news |title=Chuck Driesell to be named head coach at The Citadel |author=Steve Yanda |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2010-04-26 |access-date=2010-04-26 |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/04/chuck_driesell_to_be_named_hea.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718070703/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/04/chuck_driesell_to_be_named_hea.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 18, 2012}} He replaced Ed Conroy, who had left for Tulane.{{cite news|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/ncaa/04/28/driesell.citadel.ap/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503020136/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/ncaa/04/28/driesell.citadel.ap/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 3, 2010|title=Citadel hires Chuck Driesell|newspaper=Sports Illustrated|date=April 28, 2010}}

Since being at The Citadel, Driesell has won only 27.1 percent of his games. With four players returning who had started since their freshman years, Driesell only won ten games, the lowest number of wins for those players since they were freshman. On March 10, 2015, The Citadel announced that it would not renew Drisell's contract.{{cite web|url=http://citadelsports.com/news/2015/3/9/MBB_0309152558.aspx?path=mbball|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150310123101/http://citadelsports.com/news/2015/3/9/MBB_0309152558.aspx?path=mbball|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 10, 2015|publisher=The Citadel Athletics|title=Driesell's Contract not Renewed by The Citadel|date=March 9, 2015|access-date=March 10, 2015}}

On April 22, 2015, San Jose State head coach Dave Wojcik added Driesell to his staff as an assistant coach.{{cite web|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150422/PC20/150429762/citadel-notes-duggar-baucom-names-staff-chuck-driesell-hired-at-san-jose-state|newspaper=Post and Courier|author=Jeff Hartsell|date=April 22, 2015|access-date=April 22, 2015|title=Citadel Notes: Duggar Baucom names staff; Chuck Driesell hired at San Jose State}} Wojcik had been an assistant coach at James Madison under Lefty Driesell. However, on June 5 Driesell was named as head coach of the Maret School in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/2015/06/05/11485204-0bcc-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html |title=Boys' basketball: Maret hires Chuck Driesell as its new coach |first=Brandon |last=Parker |date=June 5, 2015 |access-date=June 23, 2015}}

In his second year at Maret, he led the team to a MAC (Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference) Co-Championship, as well as the DCSAA (District of Columbia State Athletic Association) finals, where they lost to Gonzaga College High School 77–66.

Head coaching record

{{CBB yearly record start

|type=coach

|conference=

|postseason=

|poll=no

}}

{{CBB yearly record subhead|

|name=Marymount Saints[http://static.psbin.com/p/t/lpzx2igqtjzob6/CAC_MBask_records.pdf Capital Athletic Conference Men's Basketball]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. pp. 87-89.

|startyear=1997

|conference=Capital Athletic Conference

|endyear=2003

|}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 1997–98

| name = Marymount

| overall = 13–13

| conference = 9–5

| confstanding = 3rd

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 1998–99

| name = Marymount

| overall = 14–11

| conference = 8–6

| confstanding = 3rd

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship = conference tournament

| season = 1999–00

| name = Marymount

| overall = 16–12

| conference = 9–5

| confstanding = 3rd

| postseason = NCAA D-III first round

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2000–01

| name = Marymount

| overall = 12–15

| conference = 6–8

| confstanding = T–5th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2001–02

| name = Marymount

| overall = 19–9

| conference = 10–4

| confstanding = 3rd

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2002–03

| name = Marymount

| overall = 14–12

| conference = 8–6

| confstanding = 4th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record subtotal

| name = Marymount

| overall = 88–72

| confrecord = 50–34

}}

{{CBB yearly record subhead|

|name=The Citadel Bulldogs

|startyear=2010

|conference=Southern Conference

|endyear=2015

|}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2010–11

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 10–22

| conference = 6–12

| confstanding = 5th (South)

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2011–12

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 6–24

| conference = 3–15

| confstanding = 6th (South)

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2012–13

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 8–22

| conference = 5–13

| confstanding = 5th (South)

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2013–14

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 7–26

| conference = 2–14

| confstanding = 11th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record entry

| championship =

| season = 2014–15

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 11–19

| conference = 6–12

| confstanding = T–7th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB yearly record subtotal

| name = The Citadel

| overall = 42–113

| confrecord = 22–66

}}

{{CBB yearly record end

| overall = 130–185

| legend = yes

}}

References