Florida State has introduced long-time head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton can be stepping down on the finish of the season after a tenure that began in 2002. Simply this system’s Seventh-ever head coach, he leaves this system in significantly better form than he discovered it as FSU’s all-time wins chief with 456. He’s additionally fifth in ACC historical past in wins behind simply Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, and Gary Williams. Hamilton is within the final 12 months of his contract, which is partially why the transfer was introduced now.
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It’s a tragic day for folks like myself who labored in this system and had the pleasure of attending to know Coach Hamilton as genuinely the most effective ambassadors within the sport. He was probably the most revered coaches within the sport as somebody who broke obstacles, changing into the primary African-American basketball coach at Kentucky and had a development of turning round applications lifeless to rights in Oklahoma State, Miami, and Florida State. Speak to any coach within the ACC they usually’ll inform you how a lot Coach Hamilton means to them and the game.
On the similar time, it was time to make the transfer. Florida State is 56-62 since they final made the event in 2021, a run that ended within the Candy 16. Solely certainly one of these final 4 seasons has completed with a dropping document, the 9-23 collapse within the 2022-23 season. Accidents killed the crew a couple of years in the past, however the switch portal and NIL panorama have modified every little thing.
Hamilton’s accomplishments stretch off the courtroom as nicely, as greater than 95% of four-year gamers earned their levels at Florida State. The accomplishments on the courtroom are fairly strong too: 3 ACC Coach of the 12 months awards, 8 NCAA Match appearances (44% of all of FSU’s Match appearances), 4 Candy 16s, an Elite 8, an ACC Match Championship in 2012, and an ACC common season championship in 2020. That 2019-20 crew will go down as one of many biggest “what-ifs” in Florida State athletics historical past, as a crew that went 26-5 wasn’t capable of compete within the postseason attributable to COVID and it was arguably the perfect crew in program historical past. Hamilton additionally had 22 totally different gamers play a recreation within the NBA, that includes 9 first-round picks and 5 contained in the lottery.
The ACC has seen a couple of legendary coaches retire lately. Roy Williams stepped down from UNC following the 2021 season, Coach Ok stepped down from Duke following the 2022 season, Tony Bennett shockingly retired from Virginia earlier than the season, and Jim Larranaga stepped down from Miami in the course of the winter break.
Letting Hamilton step down after the season is the correct transfer. He is one of many final remaining legendary coaches in faculty basketball and deserves to exit respectably. Nothing modifications when you take away him proper now. Even when they’re in the course of a four-game dropping streak, dropping most lately in embarrassing vogue to Boston Faculty on Saturday, he deserves to get the remainder of the season.
Florida State’s last house recreation is towards SMU on March eighth. There’ll virtually actually be some type of celebration at that recreation, and it would not be shocking to see former gamers return for that recreation.
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