Florida State Seminoles
FSU Loucks
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After being formally introduced as Florida State’s men’s basketball head coach, Luke Loucks expressed pride and appreciation as he stood before a packed auditorium at Moore Athletic Center this Monday.
“It’s good to be home,” Loucks said at the start of his press conference.
Luke Loucks, a self-described storyteller, spoke about being a ‘part’ of Florida State. He and his wife, Stevi, were both student-athletes who met at FSU.
Loucks spoke about flying back into Tallahassee late Sunday night with their three young children. While Stevi was tearing up over returning ‘home’, her husband-FSU’s new head basketball coach- was welcoming his three children into the FSU lifestyle and continuing the legacy from a full time student to a full time employee.
This family remained attached to FSU before this career decision, they would return during NBA All-Star breaks and sometimes in the summer during Louck’s NBA coaching career. A permanent relocation marks a new chapter and endeavor for him and his family.
Loucks is excited to be coaching his alma mater at 34 years old, and understands this dream doesn’t happen to everyone. He does not take this opportunity for granted.
In reflecting on the hiring process and a series of interviews, or conversations, with Director of Athletics Michael Alford and FSU President Richard McCullough, he concluded each meeting with a career defining question – ‘Why?’ .
Why did Luke Loucks want to depart from a rising career as an NBA assistant to return to the college ranks and coach at Florida State?
“No. 1, there’s an emotional connection to Florida State,” Loucks said. “This place holds so many special memories for me.”
He is one of multiple members of his family with ties to FSU. He recalled as a little kid a family gathering for FSU football’s 1993 national championship victory. A core memory for any Nole fan at that age.
As a young man and a player at FSU, he spoke of meeting his wife ’40 feet’ to the right of the podium where addressed a gathering of media, administration, and others with ties to FSU.
He obviously had a great deal of success on the court along with his teammates.
He spoke of the school’s most recent football national championship and the pride it brought him after having played his career there (2008-12).
After a handful of years playing professionally, and it taking him around the world, he entered into coaching.
His laundry list of basketball coaching influences includes plenty from -Steve Kerr, Mike Brown and Leonard Hamilton to name a few. It’s clear many of the influences trace back to his time as a Seminole. As a young coach, he leaned on those who guided him in that same role during his time at FSU. He brought up folks behind the scenes tied to FSU hoops instrumental in his basketball coaching journey.
Present day as a young parent, he said that he and his wife have spoken to their children about ‘how cool it is to be a part of the Florida State community’. This is while putting them to bed wearing FSU pajamas.
For the entirety of his 34 years, FSU has played a role in Loucks life. It is part of every bit of his being and every chapter of his story.
That all being said, the other portion of his ‘Why’ is because at his core, he is someone who loves a challenge and believes he can succeed in things he is passionate about.
“I’m pretty competitive. I can’t turn it off. I want to win. I want to win everywhere I go,” Loucks said, adding that the personality trait goes well beyond the basketball court.
“So career-wise I want to be around the best. The reality is Florida State in the athletic community is one of the best brands in the world. Again, I’ve seen what it feels like to win at Florida State and I want to be a part of that. I want to lead.”
The 34-year old first-time collegiate head coach didn’t shy away from the idea of success. As the press conference winded down after more than 50 minutes at the podium for Loucks, he was asked about his playing days and those FSU teams he was a part of exceeding expectations – blowing out North Carolina, winning at Duke, earning an ACC Championship, NCAA Tournament bids, etc. He is familiar with his new territory. He knows the gold standards in the ACC on the hardwood.
He knows the tough task of turning FSU into more than expected in basketball. He isn’t shying away from it, because he simply can’t. He isn’t wired that way. That isn’t who he is or what he is.
Luke Louchs is a Basketball junky. Let’s see how he fills the shoes that Coach Hamilton left him.
The New Chief?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida State men’s basketball head coach Leonard Hamilton made the announcement earlier in the month that his long career at FSU will officially conclude with the end of the 2024-25 season.
FSU is now in search of the program’s eighth head basketball coach after the head of their dynasty resigns.
While I don’t consider the below a hot board, I do believe several of these names mentioned could be near the top of the list as the hiring process begins:
The first name played for Hamilton and helped the program win an ACC Championship in 2012, former guard Luke Loucks.
Loucks is currently an assistant with the Sacramento Kings. Loucks has worked in the NBA for several years also having stints with the Suns and Warriors doing a variety of jobs as he has worked his way up the ranks. He was a part of multiple NBA Championship squads as a coach with the Warriors.
He has worked on the international basketball scene as well, most recently with Nigeria.
He played internationally in Germany, Belgium, Cypress, and Latvia, as well as spending some time in the NBA Developmental League.
He is a Florida native and has a good understanding of the current environment surrounding the program.
The second name is a former Seminole and member of the FSU Hall of Fame, Sam Cassell. Cassell was drafted 24th overall in the 1993 NBA Draft out of FSU. He played for eight different teams during his 15-year career. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and All-NBA Team once, both in the 2003–04 season.
The former NBA point guard, who is originally from Baltimore, is currently an assistant coach for the Celtics. He has also had extended coaching stints with the Wizards Clippers and 76ers.
Cassell has won NBA Championships as a player, multiple times, and as an assistant coach.
Both former players have been around FSU in recent years and have connected with current Athletics.
Third on my list, a huge piece of FSU’s best years under Hamilton, former assistant coach Dennis Gates.
While Alan Huss is only in his second season as the head coach of High Point, he could be a very intriguing option. He led the Panthers to a regular season conference title and the championship game of the CBI during his first year.
In year two, he’s got his team in second place in the Big South. While he can improve as a coach on the defensive end, Huss’ squad currently ranks No. 27 in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom after rating among the top 40 last season.
No, he’s not recruited to the ACC before, but Huss was known as an ace recruiter during his time as an assistant at Creighton. Additionally, he knows the landscape of the loaded prep academies as well as any coach out there after helping to build La Lumiere (Ind.) into a national power.
There are definitely more candidates than I’ve listed above. Hamilton constructed five straight, NCAA Tournament teams from 2016-21.
In my opinion, he is the best basketball coach in FSU history, leaving big shoes to fill for his successor.
Leaving The Tribe
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton is resigning after the Seminoles’ season, ending one of the winningest tenures in ACC history.
Hamilton’s 434 wins over 22+ seasons are the most in program history and the fifth ever in ACC records.
The only four ahead of Hamilton: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Dean Smith and Roy Williams and Maryland’s Gary Williams.
Hamilton, 76, took over the Seminoles in March 2002 after stints as the head coach at Miami, Oklahoma State and the Washington Wizards.
His Florida State career includes a dozen 20-win seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances and three ACC coach of the year awards.
He peaked late in his tenure. His 2018 team went to the Elite Eight. The next season, Hamilton led the Seminoles to a school-record 29 games and the Sweet 16 — only the second time ever that Florida State had back-to-back Tournament runs that deep.
Hamilton’s 2020 team was even better; they won the ACC’s regular season title and, at 26-5, was expected to be a national championship contender before March Madness was canceled due to COVID-19.
The program has slipped since 2020. The Seminoles are 56-62 since the start of the 2021-22 season.
On Saturday, Florida State blew an 8-point lead in the final minute to lose 77-76 at Boston College. It was the Eagles’ second conference victory and dropped Florida State to 13-9 overall (4-7 ACC).
University president Richard McCullough called Hamilton “one of the most respected and beloved ambassadors of FSU.”
Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said, “Coach Hamilton’s personal character and integrity, and his leadership, set a tremendous standard for all of FSU Athletics Few people have been as important in building the positive reputation of Seminole Athletics. FSU’s stature as one of the leading brands in college sports has been possible, in part, to his leadership of our men’s basketball program. He steadily developed a culture of excellence that reflects his personal values: commitment to academic success, competitive success, community service, leadership, and ongoing personal excellence. The success of the men who have been part of our basketball program is proof of that legacy.”
In late December, six former players sued Hamilton in Leon County circuit court, saying he failed to fulfill $250,000 in promised name, image and likeness money per player. Hamilton has not yet filed a response in court.
With Hamilton’s pending resignation, the ACC’s old guard is officially gone.
Add Hamilton — the oldest active coach in men’s college basketball — to the storied list of coaches who have retired from the ACC since the end of the 2020-21 season: Roy Williams, Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey, Tony Bennett, and Jim Larrañaga. That doesn’t even include Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, who was fired by Louisville a month before the start of the 2017-18 season.
Hamilton’s departure means that the longest-tenured coach in the league is now Clemson’s Brad Brownell, who is midway through his 15th season with the Tigers. Is Hamilton’s retirement the nail in the coffin for how College Basketball used to be? Is this the dawn of a new era?
While Hamilton never reached the Final Four in 37 seasons as a head coach, he did take the Seminoles to only their third Elite Eight in program history, while also establishing Tallahassee as a legitimate professional breeding ground.
From 2016 to 2021, Hamilton had six players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, including top-10 selections Jonathan Isaac (No. 6 in 2017), Patrick Williams (No. 4 in 2020), and Scottie Barnes (No. 4 in 2021).
This announcement leaves a lot of questions that will hopefully be answered soon.