When Lefty Driesell took the job as the University of Maryland’s men’s basketball coach in 1969, it had been 11 years since the Terrapins had appeared in the NCAA tournament.
The balding, brash-talking Mr. Driesell immediately declared that his team — which had a record of 8-18 the year before he arrived — “has the potential to be the UCLA of the East.” At the time, UCLA was in the midst of an unprecedented streak in which the team coached by John Wooden, won 10 national titles in 12 years.
When people stopped laughing, Mr.