JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida men’s basketball head coach Matthew Driscoll has come quite a long way from his humble beginnings.
“My first year at a Division III school, La Roche College in Pittsburgh, we won one game,” Driscoll said Tuesday.
After 251 career wins, Driscoll has thrived since his one-win season in 1993. Along the way, he’s learned what it takes to have success — and it doesn’t have to do with him.
As Driscoll approaches the conference record for most wins by a coach, he’s reminded why he’s gotten this far. The secret ... a great coaching staff and great players.
“As you move through this profession as a young person, you want to be the best you can be,” Driscoll said. “You want to do all these different things. The totality of longevity is obviously the key, but I would like to know the total number of lives that we’ve been able to change and the wins that we’ve had.”
The wins on the court matter, but what matters more to Driscoll are who the players are off the court.
“We understand at the end of the day it’s way, way greater than the 250 wins,” Driscoll said. “Way greater than that. The scoreboard is not that. The scoreboard is the lives and the hearts that we can help.”
Driscoll has led his Osprey teams to multiple ASUN regular season titles (2015, 2016, 2020), an ASUN tournament championship (2015), and two national postseason appearances (2015 NCAA, 2016 NIT). Driscoll continues to cement himself into the history books. He is two wins away from winning the most games ever in conference history.
“Look at the awards,” Driscoll said. “We were three-time coaching staff of the year and we’ll become the all-time winningest coaching staff. Loyalty, it really does mean something and it really does pay dividends.”
Driscoll is responsible for 13 of the program’s 18 players who have been 1,000-point scorers. His teams own every single season program record except for steals. But the team focuses on much smaller numbers: 1-0 — the team’s motto, which brings back a sentimental memory.
“We come to the game and like every student has got a piece of paper with 1-0 on it,” Driscoll said. “Everybody. I’m like ‘I didn’t even know. I had no idea.’ I’m like ‘man that’s awesome.’”
The three-time ASUN Coach of the Year has a special relationship with his players ... and it continues off the court as well.
“I’ve officiated eight of our players weddings,” he said.
Just like milestones in marriage, Driscoll is nearing another successful milestone as he tries to continue his historic all-time winning record on the conference level.