Lefty Driesell was a Sports and recreation good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones Date Process Result September 14, 2011 Good article nominee Not listed
	A news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on February 24, 2024.

This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography: Sports and Games This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles This article is supported by the sports and games work group (assessed as Low-importance). College Basketball Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject College Basketball, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of college basketball on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.College BasketballWikipedia:WikiProject College BasketballTemplate:WikiProject College Basketballcollege basketball articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Georgia (U.S. state) Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state), a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Georgia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Georgia (U.S. state)Wikipedia:WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state)Template:WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state)Georgia (U.S. state) articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state) To-do: edit history watch purge Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Crooked Creek (Georgia), Ed Defore Sports Complex, Audery Mill Creek, More (Georgia)... More (U.S.)... Assess : Rate articles from Unassessed Georgia (U.S. state) articles and Unknown-importance Georgia (U.S. state) articles. Citing sources : Unreferenced Georgia (U.S. state) articles Cleanup : Cleanup listing for this project is available. See also the list by category. Geographical coordinates : more Georgia (U.S. state) articles missing geocoordinate data Infobox : Georgia (U.S. state) articles without infoboxes Map : Wikipedia requested maps in Georgia (U.S. state) Photo : Wikipedia requested photographs in Georgia (U.S. state) Stubs : Work on stubs in articles in Georgia (U.S. state) stubs, Georgia (U.S. state) radio station stubs, Georgia (U.S. state) road stubs and Georgia (U.S. state) geography stubs. Other : *Deletion sorting: Please see the collection of discussions on the deletion of articles related to Georgia (U.S. state) - compiled by WikiProject Deletion sorting Help out with articles placed in Category:Georgia (U.S. state) articles needing attention Notability: Articles with notability concerns, listed at WikiProject Notability Tag the talk pages of Georgia (U.S. state)-related articles with the ((WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state))) banner. Get Georgia (U.S. state) to a featured article quality standard Maryland Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Maryland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Maryland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MarylandWikipedia:WikiProject MarylandTemplate:WikiProject MarylandMaryland articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Virginia Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Virginia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Virginia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.VirginiaWikipedia:WikiProject VirginiaTemplate:WikiProject VirginiaVirginia articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. United States: North Carolina Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject North Carolina (assessed as Low-importance).

should'nt this mention something about why he left maryland?67.70.2.172 (talk) 07:57, 28 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Lefty Driesell/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: AIRcorn (talk) 09:44, 26 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am willing to review this article. I will read through it over the next couple of days and leave comments at the bottom. I view this as a collaborative process, so feel free to discuss any concerns I might have. At a quick glance I see the lead is rather short. I review the lead last so if you wish you can add any information to it while I am reviewing the rest. AIRcorn (talk) 09:44, 26 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Still planning on doing this, just been distracted with other stuff recently. Will try and stat this evening. AIRcorn (talk) 23:19, 31 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Okay made a start. Still need to check the references, but need to sleep now so that is a job for tomorrow. Don't anticipate too many problems there. I have given some rough comments under each of the criteria and gone into more detail under comments. Most of the comments deal with prose or parts that I think can be improved. I view this as a collaborative process so if you feel a point I raise is incorrect or you don't understand it leave a comment underneath it. AIRcorn (talk) 13:06, 1 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Review

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

   Minor prose issues below, but nothing glaringly bad. The lead needs to be fleshed out some. Some details about the fire, personal life, midnight madness, some of his honours, more details about championships etc could be used.

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

   References present. Still need to double check a few of them to make sure there is no original research. Done looking through the references. A few comments below.

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

   Focus is fine. A bit of a gap between 72 and 84 career wise though. Would be good to add something, but not necessary. Not a lot about his playing days either, but it is obvious he is more known as a coach so not too worried about that either. If nothing significant happened then we can leave it out.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

   Fine.

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

   Stable

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   The image I found was on page 224 [1]. Source says page 233, should be updated unless I missed something. Copyright notice is fine. Not sure about the caption. It needs a cite to say the the "V-sign" is unique or originated from Driesell.

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

Comments

• After college in 1954, he took an office job which paid a $6,200 salary ($50,663 adjusted for inflation), After college in 1954 doesn't read very well. Not sure 1954 needs to be mentioned as it is at the end of the previous section.
• Provide year to which you adjusted salary. Someone may be reading this 20 years from now and they won't know how old the adjustment is.Ds63 (talk) 13:30, 3 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
• DAB Varsity
• During his tenure there, his teams won three Southern Conference tournament championships and five regular season championships,[6] and he was named the Southern Conference Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year four consecutive times from 1963 to 1966. Would consider splitting into two sentences.
  • Not too fussed about this either now that I rethink it. AIRcorn (talk) 04:14, 2 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
• At Davidson, one of his recruits included Dick Snyder, a first round selection by the Cleveland Cavaliers who later became a first round selection...??
• During his successful recruitment of college prospect Don Davidson, Driesell told him, "If you come here, I'll put your name on the front [of your jersey]". Not being a basketball fan the relevance of this is lost on me.
• During his time at Davidson, NC State head coach Everett Case attempted to lure Driesell to join his own coaching staff as an assistant, to which he replied, "Coach, I got a better team than you got. Why would I do that?" Would also consider splitting this in two.
  • Second read through this did not stand out so much so not bothered if it is left as is. AIRcorn (talk) 04:09, 2 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
• While Driesell did not elevate Maryland to UCLA's heights, he did lead the Terrapins to eight... Might want to mention Terrapins earlier. I assume it is the nickname for Maryland. Maybe use "wanted to make Maryland Terrapins the ..." in the earlier sentence
• Driesell coached the Maryland Terrapins from 1969 to 1986. Tied with the above comment. Add Terrapins and wikilink them when they first appear.
• In 1974, he signed perhaps the best college prospect of his career, Moses Malone,[5] but lost him to a professional basketball franchise, the Utah Stars, on the day classes were scheduled to begin. Feel there are too many commas. It is hard to work out the parenthetical parts. Maybe reword, "a professional basketball franchise" could simply be replaced by "the Utah Stars" maybe? Don't really like the "perhaps" either, it is a bit ambiguous.
• Driesell traditionally began the first practice with a requirement that his players run one mile in six minutes, but found that the players were too fatigued to practice effectively immediately afterwards. This section sounds interesting, but the purpose of this sentence is not clear. It would be good to have another small sentence explaining that this gave the players enough rest before they begun practising the next morning (if that is the case)
• On July 12, 1973, Driesell.... This section might work better under Personal Life. It doesn't seem right in the middle of his Maryland career
• In 1984, Driesell led the team to ... This section has too many sentences starting "In ..." or "On ..." and they are two short and choppy interrupting the flow of the paragraph.
• On June 19, 1986, Maryland star Len Bias died of a cocaine-induced heart attack shortly after being drafted by the Boston Celtics as the No. 2 overall selection. Not made clear how this relates to Driesell. Len is already linked.
• On October 29, Driesell resigned as head coach and took a position as an assistant athletic director. Is this because of the university panel? Okay the next sentence implies it was. I feel this whole paragraph needs to be rewritten slightly to make the major points clearer. It kinda reads like a timeline at the moment and this is especially noticeable because the other paragraphs are quite good.
• Driesell resumed his coaching career at James Madison University ... too many short choppy sentences together. For example "...head coach until 1996. Driesell led James..." could be changed to "...until 1996, leading them to the...
• Driesell led four of his squads to the Elite Eight... Having this closely followed by a short sentence starting "Driesell is..." is a little jarring. Maybe just make it "He led four..."
• Driesell's final record was 786–394. This means nothing to me. Is it the win-loss ration?
• While a student at Duke University, Driesell eloped with his wife, Joyce on December 14, 1952. Should it be eloped with his girlfriend or future wife? The comma before Joyce seems out of place too.

Still need to check the references, but you can get started on the prose issues raised now if you like. AIRcorn (talk) 12:58, 1 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Reference

• Some all caps reference titles would be better if they were not all caps.
• Driesell excelled at recruiting at each of his collegiate coaching stops. Not sure about excelled. Would be more comfortable with another source to back this up. The current one talks about how he did a lot of recruiting, but not too much on how good he was at it. The Sports Illustrated article does though so maybe that should be added here.
• During his tenure, he successfully recruited numerous exceptional players, including Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert King, Buck Williams, and Len Bias Exceptional. Bit too peacocky for my mind, maybe there is a better way to introduce them. Also can't find Buck Williams is in the source.
• On July 12, 1973, Driesell saved the lives of at least ten children from several burning buildings Should probably say Driesell and two other men. Saved the lives is a bit too definate, I would go with rescued or as one of the sources says "is credited with saving". The paragraph makes it appear it was all Driesell, when the sources mention it was with the help of the two men.
• Members of the media widely described Driesell as a scapegoat of chancellor John B. Slaughter and the university administration "Members of the media" and "widely described" is too vague and ambiguous. As I said above this whole paragraph needs reworking to mae it clearer. This seems to be a major event and could probably be expanded upon to allow a better presentation.
• Because of this and his recruiting acumen, Sports Illustrated noted that he has sometimes been—unfairly—viewed as a stellar recruiter but mediocre coach. Would remove unfairly or put it in a different context. It looks and reads like original research as it is.
• On April 2, 2010, the first annual Lefty Driesell Award for the best defensive player in NCAA Division I basketball was bestowed upon its first recipient, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State. Not really anything to do with references, but I would feel having an award named after you deserves more than a sentence.

Okay final read through don. AIRcorn (talk) 04:03, 2 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No response. No choice but to fail. Hope the comments help to improve the article should someone wish to re-nominate it. AIRcorn (talk) 08:41, 14 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Lefty Driesell/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Last edited at 15:09, 19 March 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 21:50, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Lefty Driesell. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110717160004/http://www.umterps.com/trads/md-wall-of-fame.html to http://www.umterps.com/trads/md-wall-of-fame.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check)) (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 11:39, 13 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Lefty Driesell. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121007163139/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/05/lefty-driesells-homage-to-john-wooden-the-ucla-of-the-east/ to http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/05/lefty-driesells-homage-to-john-wooden-the-ucla-of-the-east/
• Added archive https://archive.is/20120714050343/http://collegebasketballexperience.com/inductees.aspx?class=2007 to http://collegebasketballexperience.com/inductees.aspx?class=2007
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110929120112/http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/sports/state/040210_jarvis-varnado-wins-driesell-award to http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/sports/state/040210_jarvis-varnado-wins-driesell-award

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check)) (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 14:38, 4 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Lefty Driesell. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110723160038/http://www.roarlions.com/Mens_Basketball/Current_Season/bobby_champagne.htm to http://www.roarlions.com/Mens_Basketball/Current_Season/bobby_champagne.htm
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150402164639/http://www.gosanangelo.com/sports/angelo-state-basketball-head-coach-fred-rike-not to http://www.gosanangelo.com/sports/angelo-state-basketball-head-coach-fred-rike-not

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check)) (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 10:29, 14 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Lefty Driesell. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added ((dead link)) tag to https://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=%2Fncaa%2Fncaa%2Fmedia+and+events%2Fawards%2Fhonors+program%2Fvalor%2Fcharles_driesell.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150402170105/http://www.angelosports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=315&path=mbball to http://www.angelosports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=315&path=mbball

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check)) (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 00:33, 20 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The Len Bias paragraphs under the Maryland section state: “A subsequent investigation revealed that Bias had exhausted all his athletic eligibility yet was still 21 credits short of a degree. The circumstances surrounding Bias' death threw the University of Maryland and its athletics program into turmoil. An investigation revealed that Bias was 21 credits short of the graduation requirement despite having attended the university for four full years; in his final semester, he earned no academic credits, failing three courses and withdrawing from two others.” Does it need to be stated twice that Bias was 21 credits short? Jhurley85 (talk) 13:38, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]