Busting Brackets
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9 potential candidates to replace Leonard Hamilton at Florida State

Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton watches his team from the sideline. The Florida State Seminoles hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies for a menÕs basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton watches his team from the sideline. The Florida State Seminoles hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies for a menÕs basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. | Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Dennis Gates

Ignoring external factors, Gates would almost certainly be one of the top candidates for the Florida State job. He checks a lot of boxes, with head coaching success, experience at Florida State, and relative youth in this sport. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to be the guy in Tallahassee next season.

Born in Chicago, Gates played college ball out at California before bouncing around at several schools in his early coaching career. He was an assistant at five different schools, including a pair of stints under Hamilton with the Seminoles. In 2019, he began his head coaching career at Cleveland State and repaired a broken Vikings program for the next three seasons. He arrived in the SEC at Missouri in 2022, engineering two brilliant seasons in his first three years in Columbia.

Gates is far from perfect, leading Missouri to an 0-18 mark in SEC play last season, though that disappointment has been sandwiched by two great seasons. What actually makes this hire more unrealistic is Gates’ contract and large buyout from the Tigers. The Seminoles would have to fork over millions of dollars to make this hire happen, but how desperate would they be to hire a former assistant?