Wednesday, March 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN WIRE REPORTS
James Madison's Lefty Driesell, still 17 victories shy of 700 for his career, plans to end his coaching career at the end of the 1997-98 season.
"Next year will be my last for sure," Drie sell told the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg on Tuesday. "This is a time-con suming job.
"There's a lot of pressure. I've done it for nearly 40 years. It's time to do something else in my life."
A school spokesman said neither president Ronald E. Carrier nor athletic director Don Lemish would comment on Driesell's plans.
Driesell's contract expires this spring, but Carrier said last fall that Driesell could stay until he wins his 700th career game. Driesell has 683 victories and said he will leave even if he doesn't reach the milestone. In nine seasons at James Madison, Driesell is 159-111.
He has guided the Dukes to at least a share of five regular-season Colonial Athletic Association titles, four NIT appearances and one NCAA bid.
Driesell said he might have quit at the end of this season if James Madison had won the CAA tournament and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Dukes lost in the championship Monday to Old Dominion, 62-58 in overtime.
"Next year, I want to win the thing if we can and go to the NCAAs. I think we'll have a pretty good shot," he said.
Driesell spent 17 seasons at Maryland, where he was 348-159, including eight appearances in the NCAAs, going to the Final Eight in 1973 and 1975. He began his college career at Davidson, where he coached for nine seasons (176-65), including three NCAA bids, reaching the Final Eight in 1968 and 1969.
* WESTHEAD AXED: George Mason coach Paul Westhead was fired after the Patriots lost nine of their last 10 games to finish the season at 10-17. "I did the best I could to raise the level of basketball at George Mason University," Westhead said in a written statement Tuesday. "Our coaching staff worked very hard at turning a down program into a winner. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete the task." Athletic director Tom O'Connor said he fired Westhead because "recent results are not indicative of the goals we have set for the program." "We want a better experience for our student-athletes and we want to be competitive in the Colonial Athletic Association," O'Connor said. The Patriots were 38-70 in Westhead's four seasons. They never finished higher than sixth in the CAA under Westhead, who replaced Ernie Nestor amid much fanfare following the 1992-93 campaign. Westhead came to George Mason with impressive credentials. He won the 1980 NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers and was 142-105 in nine seasons at LaSalle and 105-48 in five years at Loyola Marymount.
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