ACC Basketball: Ranking all 15 head coaches in 2023 after recent changes
By Joey Loose
3. Leonard Hamilton – Florida State
One of the sport’s oldest coaches, it’s been more than five decades since Hamilton played at Gaston Community College and Tennessee-Martin before his long coaching career began. He won a national title as an assistant at Kentucky in 1978 and had success as head coach at Oklahoma State and Miami after that. Hamilton left the Hurricanes and spent one rocky season in the NBA leading the Washington Wizards, but returned to college action in 2002 at Florida State.
Hamilton’s best head coaching years have come with these Seminoles, leading them into a great position in the ACC. He’s made an Elite Eight and three more Sweet Sixteens with the Seminoles, with three of those deeper runs coming in the last six years. Florida State won the ACC regular season title in the pandemic-shortened season, though the Seminoles are coming off a pretty rough season at just 9-23.
If we ignore these last couple of seasons, nobody’s been in better shape in this conference long-term than Florida State. Hamilton’s work in the state of Florida has been exceptional and his time with the Seminoles has been filled with memorable moments. This year’s shortcomings do not undermine what he’s accomplished in more than 35 seasons as a D1 head coach. In all reality, he’s among the next big names to retire from coaching, but could it come after one more big run with Florida State?