Former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell made headlines earlier in the week when he made comments objecting to the school's decision to rename the Comcast Center court after Gary Williams. At the time, Driesell said he felt such a move was unfair to his players.
This obviously merited some follow-up work, which happened on Friday afternoon when Driesell joined Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro on ESPN 980. In the interview, Driesell mostly reiterated his earlier concerns. He said he was "disappointed" instead of "upset" and consistently said he had "nothing against Gary" and that he "likes Gary," but added that he felt it wasn't right for anyone's name to be on the court.
"My players deserve recognition," Driesell said. "When you put a coaches' name on a court, you're saying his players built the program."
Driesell touted the merits of several of his players and noted that "everyone who played for me was on a top 10 team" at some point.
"When you turn on the TV, you're going to see Gary's name," he said. "So now everybody's going to think Gary's players were the ones who put UMD on the map."
Driessel added that he isn't wild about having his own name on the Georgia State court. Mostly, though, he spoke out of fear that what he and his players accomplished at the school will be forgotten.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but it hurts my players. It hurts my feelings that my players weren't even recognized."
"I'm proud of what my players did," he said earlier in the interview. "I don't want people to forget that."
Editor's Note: Transcription wording may not be 100 percent exact, but sentiment is accurate.
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