Leonard Hamilton Calls It A Career
So now the question is: who’s got next?
Well, it’s no great surprise to hear that Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton is stepping down at the end of the season.
Our theory about older coaches is that they (like all of us) get stuck in a rut and towards the end, what they’re doing doesn't work as well as it used to.
Toss in a player-driven lawsuit, NIL and the instant transfer rules, not to mention his teams struggling for the most part since Covid, and it’s no big surprise.
He says he has “no regrets.” Well, why should he? If he did, he probably would have left long ago.
It’s always been a difficult job but Hamilton has done as well as anyone has since Hugh Durham got the ‘Noles to the championship game in 1972, losing to UCLA’s Walton Gang.
Now that that’s settled, we can move on to the search.
Now we know that Virginia, Miami and Florida State, at least will be looking for new coaches. They’ll probably be competing with Indiana, where Mike Woodson has gotten fierce disapproval from the fan base, and possibly UNC, depending on how the Hubert Davis situation resolves itself.
Speculation will center around former Hamilton assistant Dennis Gates until he says yea or nay. He’s currently at Missouri and basketball wise, that’s probably a better job.
Unless they pay more than anyone could reasonably expect, they won’t lure a big time hire and will have to look at the up and comers or someone on the rebound.
Our guess is they’ll make a run at Will Wade. After that spot of bother he had at LSU that cost him (and ultimately former Duke AD Joe Alleva too) his job, he’s done a decent rehab tour at McNeese State. He’s from Nashville and graduated from Clemson, so we could see him building well in Tallahassee.
Beyond that? If it’s us we’d talk to Luke Murray for sure. He’s done a great job at UConn and is ready for his own gig.
Staying on the scandalous side of things, they might talk to Chris Mack too. Like Wade, he brings baggage, but he knows how to win.
Or they could go the fun route and pick up Bucky McMillan from Samford. Hey, if he can do it Birmingham, there’s no reason why he can’t do it at FSU.
Of course, if the Cavaliers want a real change of pace in Charlottesville they might go after him, too.
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