The Daily Nole

Column: If Nothing Else, Leonard Hamilton Made You Care

Colin Abbey/FSU athletics

Another Florida State basketball season has come to a close. On Saturday, FSU was defeated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Xavier, 91-66.

The loss was an embarrassing ending to an otherwise outstanding season as the Seminoles set a school-record for regular season wins and tied previous bests for seeding in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. Despite one of the best seasons in school-history, some still aren’t satisfied, calling for the removal of head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton.

The school’s winningest coach, Hamilton was reported by Warchant to receive a 2-year extension following Saturday’s loss. On Sunday, Warchant said the initial report of an extension was incorrect.

For the most part, Hamilton’s 15 years at FSU have been a mixed bag. There’s no denying that Hamilton has elevated the program from where it was under predecessor Steve Robinson, but there have also been seasons along the way where his teams didn’t maximize their talent or underachieved. After finishing 26-9 and second in the ACC during the 2016-17 campaign, this season was not one of them.

While FSU’s NCAA Tournament performance may have been a disappointment, the campaign as a whole was far from that. The Seminoles narrowly missed tying a school-record for wins after being picked to finish eighth in the ACC during the preseason. Still, the naysayers will say that FSU had Final Four type talent and failed to maximize it.

There may be some truth to that, but there are a number of teams with that type of talent if everything goes right and FSU is probably outside the top 10 or 15 when it comes to overall talent. There are a lot of other teams with more tradition and maybe more talent that won’t play any more basketball this season either, including Duke, Louisville, Michigan State and defending national champion Villanova.

It is true that those coaches — Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Jay Wright — have won national championships, making the occasional second round exit excusable, but they are all also truly elite coaches. Those don’t come around very often and may not be easy to attract at a place like Florida State if the Seminoles were to part ways with Hamilton.

In terms of prestige for men’s sports, basketball is behind both football and baseball at FSU. In terms of top basketball jobs in the ACC, Florida State isn’t in the top 5 and maybe not even in the top 10. Add in the fact that there’s still a large amount of disdain for a 2-time ACC Coach of the Year who just led the team to one of its best seasons ever and the line of coaches waiting out the opportunity to succeed Hamilton is probably pretty small.

In years past, Hamilton had talented players like Al Thornton, Tim Pickett, Alexander Johnson, Von Wafer and Malik Beasley, who went on to get selected in the NBA Draft, yet never played in the NCAA Tournament during their time at FSU. Thornton, an ACC Player of the Year runner-up and eventual lottery pick, is probably the greatest player to play for Hamilton at FSU.

While it is a shame that Thornton never got to partake in the NCAA Tournament, those who blame Hamilton for that rarely give him credit for developing Thornton. A 6-8 forward out of Perry, Florida, Thornton went from a player that nobody wanted to one of the best in the ACC. The coaching staff has to at least get a mention in this regard.

When you bring up the fact that Hamilton has taken a program that was a combined 46-72 in the four years prior to his arrival and led it to 13 winning seasons, nine 20-win seasons, five NCAA Tournament appearances and the school’s only ACC title in 15 years, you’re often met with the argument of how incompetent the predecessor Robinson was and how the program could only have gone up.

When asking who the Hamilton naysayers would prefer, they often advocate for a young, fairly-accomplished coach at a mid-major. Pat Kennedy, who preceded Robinson, fit that bill and is often held in high regard by the fan base. Kennedy came from Iona and in 11 seasons, led FSU to five NCAA Tournament appearances and twice advanced past the first weekend.

Kennedy did make the NCAA Tournament the same number of times as Hamilton in fewer seasons and went deeper in the tournament. In less time on the job however, he also had more losing seasons than Hamilton.

Though Kennedy qualifies as a “young, fairly-accomplished coach at a mid-major”, so did Robinson. When he made his debut at FSU, Robinson was 40-year-old head coach who had just taken Tulsa to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. A 64-86 record four years later and Robinson was out the door.

As has become customary at the end of an FSU basketball season, a large portion of the fan base has a strong opinion about the head coach. A 25-point loss in Orlando to an 11-seed and an 8-7 finish to close the year has left many dissatisfied with a season they thought had more potential. Regardless of your opinion of Hamilton, it’s a reflection of how far the program has come.

Perhaps it was a result of growing up in Central Florida or the fact that social media just wasn’t around, but I don’t recall anyone really ever talking about FSU basketball during the Robinson or early parts of the Hamilton era. I’d try to strike up a conversation with people I ran into wearing Florida State shirts about basketball and they usually couldn’t name a player on the team. Sometimes they’d throw me a bone with “oh, how’s the basketball team doing this year?” as if they almost cared a little bit.

Flash forward to Saturday and there’s outrage over the finish of a team that won 26 games and equaled previous bests for highest seed in the ACC and NCAA Tournament. It’s possible that my past perception of people’s affinity for the basketball program were incorrect, but it seems like people care a lot more now than they did 15 or 20 years ago. For that, Hamilton is a big reason why.

None of this is meant to be either an endorsement or indictment of Hamilton, but simply perspective. Although the initial report of an extension proved to be false, some decision will come by the end of next season at the latest.

Hamilton’s current contract is set to expire after the 2018-19 season and it’s highly unlikely that some move won’t be made prior to that season. It would be pretty hard to recruit with an expiring contract, but Hamilton would also be 70 years old, so retirement before then is also entirely possible.

With Jonathan Isaac, Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes all potentially gone and Hamilton’s coaching days nearing an end any way, a down-year next season could lead the administration to force him out. It’s also possible that Hamilton is waiting to see what decision(s) his top 3 scorers make about their futures before deciding whether or not to even return for next season.

For some, a Hamilton departure would be more than welcomed.

Few dispute that Hamilton is an excellent recruiter, but the naysayers question what good the talent is if you don’t have the right guy to coach it. When Hamilton does finally leave, it’s not impossible but it is unlikely that FSU will end up with the next Hugh Durham.

What the Seminoles could end up with however, is the next Pat Kennedy. They could also wind up with the next Steve Robinson. Regardless of who they choose when Hamilton is gone, improvement is far from a guarantee. Saturday’s loss to Xavier was embarrassing, but thanks largely to Hamilton, the current state of the program no longer is.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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