Chuck Driesell: Citadel Basketball

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November 4, 2014 — Our Rotary Club welcomed Citadel Basketball Coach Chuck Driesell to our November 4 meeting. The son of former Maryland Coach Lefty Dreisell, Chuck attended the University of Maryland earning Academic All American honors and played on his father’s team. He went on to coach at the Naval Academy Preparatory school, and as assistant coach with his father at James Madison University. He was also assistant coach under Gary Williams at the University of Maryland and spent 6 seasons as head coach at Marymount University. In 2011 he became the 28th Head Coach of Basketball at the Citadel. 

He emphasized that, although winning is important, his goal in coaching is to try and change people’s lives and affect the young men he is coaching in a positive way. It’s about giving something to them that they can take and apply to their lives outside of the court.

Formula for Success:

Learning from his dad and Gary Williams, he was taught to have a vision for the year, 3-4 goals-not too many- so you can stay focused and make those goals achievable.  Next surround yourself with talent, good assistant coaches, and players that will work hard and represent your institution. As his dad told him, ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get’. Do all of these things and the winning will come, sometimes it takes longer than others, but stick to values and do it the right way.

He continued that a lot of good things that happen in college athletics are overlooked in the wake of the negative press out there. “There are a lot of point-guards out there”, referring to  those who want to point out everything that is wrong.

He next focused on the year at hand and how the teamed is poised to have a winning year.  Giving a little history, Chuck indicated that this is the first year since he started that he has more than 1 senior on the team. He lost 8 after his first season and has been lacking the experienced players since.

Having their first team meeting, he indicated that he likes to set the tone for the year amidst the varying emotions of the players as freshman, sophomores, juniors or seniors. 2 years ago the tone or theme was “don’t give in”. Last year the theme became “expect to win” and they ended the season doing really well.  This year the theme is “we will win”.

He has the experienced players to do it this year. With changes in the league, the schedule is also favorable for winning. He talked about how an article on low attendance at the end of last season really boosted attendance and they won.  He asked for everyone to come out and support the team with 14 home games this year.

He concluded that he respects the Rotary because their mission is to change lives much as he seeks to do.

Don Baus