Florida State's Leonard Hamilton is the only one not surprised by his first Elite Eight
Hamilton has kept his job for 16 years and, at age 69, is putting together his best postseason yet
By
Dennis Dodd
•
5 min read
LOS ANGELES -- Leonard Hamilton gives one of those what-the-hell looks.
The question makes sense, just not to him: How does coaching basketball at a football school sustain him during the down times?
"When you say down times, what do you mean?" Florida State's coach said in the minutes following a historic 75-60 Sweet 16 win Thursday night over Gonzaga.
Well, you know, the times when you aren't going to the Elite Eight for the first time in 25 years. Or when you're not winning the ACC or beating Duke and North Carolina.
Which, you know, is most of the time for Leonard Hamilton.
That doesn't make him much different than a lot of NCAA coaches. The difference is Hamilton toiling in Tallahassee for 16 seasons through three football coaches who won five ACC titles and one national championship during that time. That sort of success tends to deflect criticism in basketball at a football-first school. Hamilton wasn't having it.
"We're the third-winningest program in the ACC over the last 12 years," he countered. "We're still clawing and scratching and scratching and clawing.
"When you're climbing the mountain, you don't have any time to rest. There is never any down time. We're in a league with some of the most rich traditional programs in college basketball.
"But coming close doesn't count very much."
It doesn't necessarily get you fired either. Hamilton, 69, is one of those coaches who is exactly where he should be. Florida State is not too big for him, nor is he to big for it.
In 31 seasons as a head coach, Hamilton has finished an average of 2.84 games above .500. In eight of those seasons, he had losing records. None of those of those have come since 2005.
So Saturday's regional final could be the pinnacle of his career. Still, with a Final Four berth at stake, the West Regional championship game looks more like a random Orange Bowl: No. 9 Florida State vs. No. 3 Michigan.
Hamilton has gravitated to football schools in his head-coaching career. Four years at Oklahoma State begat a 10-year run at Miami, where he went to the tournament three times. Sixteen years at Tallahassee have made him the winningest (hoops) coach in FSU history.
"We need to make sure we milk this for all that we can," Hamilton said.
He's also probably due for a raise and an extension. The Noles are on the cusp of their first Final Four since 1972 with a coach whose contract runs only through 2019-20.
"I'm not talking to the media about that," Seminoles AD Stan Wilcox said jovially.
Hamilton is making this run after his team finished in a tie for eighth in the ACC. "I haven't had the luxury of inheriting basketball programs that were already successful with rich tradition," Hamilton said.
But he isn't going anywhere either. Hamilton has done the NBA thing, finishing 19-63 in one forlorn season with owner Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards in 2000-01.
He refers to having been to three Final Fours. Those came as an assistant at Kentucky. Yet these Seminoles bear a striking resemblance to some of those Wildcat teams.
There are athletes all over the floor. Hamilton prefers a rotation of 10 or 11. There are 7-foot wingspans all over the floor. Eight players stand 6-foot-6 or taller. Hamilton doesn't leave any of them out of the discussion labeling his team "18 Strong" for the number of players on the roster.
"He's probably going to be locked in even more now," 6-6 guard Terance Mann said of his coach. "He's a pretty serious guy. I feel deep down inside he's really excited for himself and his team."
Florida State almost seems like the accidental elitist in the final eight. First-round opponent Missouri hadn't been to the tournament in seven years. No. 1 Xavier was shocker, sure, in the second round. But No. 4 seed Gonzaga took the court knowing Killian Tillie, its No. 2 scorer and rebounder, had re-aggravated an injured hip in warm ups.
"Watching them on tape, the more I watched them, I got a bad feeling in my stomach," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.
"I'm sure that it had a significant difference in their team," Hamilton said before adding, "It's interesting that we probably are the only ones believe we're capable of doing this."
Florida State can't go hire a Gregg Marshall or the next hot model like Chris Holtmann (from Butler) at Ohio State. Those type of guys aren't coming to play second fiddle to football program, at least not when the interest level is this lopsided.
Hamilton doesn't want to hear that either. But it may be he's done enough to be at a place like Florida State for 16 years. Only three players who have stayed all four years during that time haven't earned their degree, the coach said. That accomplishment fades when those two ACC powers ahead of him in the last 12 years remain way ahead. Fans who overvalue their place in the basketball universe have called for Hamilton's departure at times.
And then September rolls around, and football soothes the Seminole soul.
Nearing 70, Hamilton doesn't look much different from when he was at Oklahoma State from 1986-90.
"I think my mother was 97, and obviously she passed some pretty good genes down to me," Hamilton said. "I don't sleep very much, but I never have. So other than that, I try to eat right. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I do curse every once in a while, other than that, I said some things that my mother probably wouldn't be happy with, God rest her soul."
Since 2005-2006 FSU has that third-best record in the ACC behind North Carolina and Duke. Some would say way behind considering those bluebloods.
Still, someday soon Hamilton will pass Virginia's Terry Holland to become the seventh-winningest coach in ACC history,
Hamilton's teams have led the NCAA in field-goal percentage defense -- in consecutive seasons (2010-2011). But the gold standard is pros. Three left last year, as many future NBA players as the Seminoles have had since their last Elite Eight team, the 1993 squad that featured Sam Cassell, Charlie Ward, Douglas Edwards and Bob Sura.
Only twice have his teams finished with single-digit losses. Nineteen years ago at Miami and last year at FSU (26-9). This year's team (23-11) was inconsistent. After beating North Carolina at home on Jan. 3 (in the snow in Tallahassee!), the Noles finished the regular-season 9-9.
The NCAA draw definitely wasn't favorable.
But for the first time in school history, FSU beat three higher-seeded teams in a row. Contrast that with Florida State's football season (7-6) that tied for the worst since at the school since 1981.
"The football team, they definitely do a good job too," Mann said. "I think now definitely people are going to take notice [of basketball]."
