Driesell was hired by the University of Maryland at College Park in 1969. During his introductory press conference on March 19, 1969, he famously and boldly stated that Maryland "has the potential to be the UCLA of the East Coast or I wouldn’t be here," referring to the nation's dominant college basketball program in the middle of a still unrivaled dynasty. While Driesell fell short of that overreaching goal, he was successful in leading the Terrapins to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, two Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championships, and one Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship. Maryland was ranked as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings for four consecutive seasons from 1972 to 1976., and produced a number of All-Americans, including the Number 2 pick in the 1986 NBA draft, Len Bias.