Guess Lefty Driesell really does enjoy this retirement thing. Just because he could, he lay in bed on Monday morning while doing an interview from his beach home in Bethany, Del.
As the Atlantic Ocean ebbed and flowed against his cottage, Driesell used his 75-year-old tongue to say with that famous drawl, "Always something to do around here. Gotta go get the car washed. See the doctor. Head down to the drugstore to get more pills. Brush all of that sand off the sidewalks. Put the chairs out on the deck, stuff like that."
He laughed. He did so nearly as hard as when we discussed the lunacy under consideration at his old school.
Well, one of his old schools.
They're talking about bringing football to Georgia State. "I don't know. I mean, I guess it would be nice, probably, for the students, but I wouldn't jump up and down about it, myself," said Driesell, laughing some more. After he spent the early and middle part of his 41 years coaching college basketball at Davidson, Maryland and James Madison, he finished his final six seasons at Georgia State through 2002.
This is the same Georgia State that remained obscure despite Driesell's charisma and effectiveness. This is the same Georgia State that is a commuter school, which means the college football loyalties for its students and faculty members reside around Athens, Bobby Dodd Stadium and various SEC cities.
This also is the same Georgia State that is contemplating the addition of a I-AA football program.
The plan is for the Panthers to play home football games at the 71,250-seat Georgia Dome, where the Panthers likely would have an average of 70,000 or so.
That's empty seats.
"See, I coached at [James Madison], where they have Division I-AA football, and most of the schools at that level lose money," Driesell said. "If this was big-time football, like at Georgia, Georgia Tech and Alabama, then I'd say go forward. You know what I'm saying?"
Yes, I do. Crazy ideas happen when you're a little engine, and you can't stand seeing other little engines churning up that steep hill. Worse, for Georgia State, Old Dominion is a little engine from the Panthers' Colonial Athletic Association, and Old Dominion already has announced plans to play I-AA football in the 2009 season. Driesell knows as much, especially since Old Dominion is in Norfolk, the site of many properties that Driesell owns around his native Virginia.
Said Driesell, "See, it's different in Norfolk. The newspaper there, I mean, they talk about Old Dominion football every single day. They've got a full-page ad in there. Buy your tickets for something that isn't even here yet. You can't do that in Atlanta. [Georgia State] would go broke on advertising. You've got a lot of competition there. Georgia. Georgia Tech. You've got the Falcons. You've got the Hawks, and then you've got everything else."
Everything but Driesell, with 786 victories and an induction into the recently formed National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Georgia State was the losingest program in Division I basketball when Driesell arrived in 1997. Four years later, the Panthers went 29-5 along the way to slaying a potent Wisconsin team in the NCAA tournament.
Nobody cared. Even so, that's not why Driesell retired on New Year's Day 2003 to enjoy life with Joyce, his wife of 55 years. Red Auerbach once told Driesell it is time to retire when you get tired putting on your sneakers for practice. "I woke up, and I just said it's time to quit putting my sneakers on," said Driesell, who is thrilled Rod Barnes hasn't reached that point.
Two months ago, Georgia State hired Barnes with hopes the former Ole Miss coach of eight decent seasons would resurrect Driesell's success. But now the Panthers have this football thing. Said Driesell, who still attends Panthers games around Virginia, "Georgia State loses money in athletics right now, even in basketball, because we didn't draw that well.
"We had a team that was 29-5, and we probably lost money that year. It's hard to draw right now in town, so I don't know if financially they can handle it."
They can't.
tlmoore@ajc.com
