Former Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball assistant coach Leonard Drake died Wednesday in Evansville, Ind., due to a stroke, at the age of 56.
Drake finished his tenure at EMU this past June when he took an athletic position at Evansville Central High School. He was a part of the basketball program from 2007-2010, leaving after last year’s stellar record (22-9) and a trip to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
In 33 years of coaching, Drake accomplished the feat of eight conference championships, seven conference tournament championships, five NCAA tournament appearances, 4 Men’s National Invitational Tournaments and one WNIT.
Drake was most familiar for his position at Central Michigan University as a player and a head coach for the Chippewas. Drake currently ranks eight on CMU’s all-time scoring chart with 1,388 points where he was a four-year letter winner and a former team captain. He was inducted into the Central Michigan University Hall of Fame as a student-athlete in 2007.
He was a head coach at CMU from 1993-1994 to 1996-1997 seasons. He was then hired by Lamar University as a men’s associate head basketball coach from 1997 to 2002, then switched to the women’s basketball program from 2002 to 2007 before coming to EMU.
Drake received much of his success while he was an associate head coach at Ball State. Ball State won three MAC titles, appeared in four NCAA tournaments and notched three top 25 rankings while Drake was calling the shots.
Drake graduated from Niles Brandywine High School in 1973 where he was a first-team Class B All-State basketball player as a senior.
Arguably, his greatest accomplishment as a collegiate athlete came in 1975, when he made two free throws with no time remaining in the game to defeat Georgetown 77-75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
He graduated from CMU in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in education, and again in 1983 with a Master’s degree in special education. His collegiate overall coaching record stands at 510-448 with a .532 winning percentage.
Drake is survived by his wife, Rhonda, his son, Jared, and his daughter, Enjoli.
