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ACC QUESTION of WEEK : Where does Leonard Hamilton rank among all-time ACC coaches?
Florida State basketball fans know this, but others in the ACC and around the United States might not: Leonard Hamilton has the fifth-most wins — 357 — of any coach in ACC basketball history. Coach K, Roy Williams, Dean Smith, and Gary Williams of Maryland (before Maryland moved to the Big Ten) occupy the first four spots. Then comes Hamilton. His 357 total eclipses Maryland icon Lefty Driesell, who won 348 games with the Terrapins.
Before Florida State faces Louisville in a massive game on Monday night in Tallahassee, let’s briefly think about Hamilton’s place in the annals of ACC basketball coaching.
The first thing to point out is that Hamilton has been given time and space in which to do his job. Hamilton is coaching in his 18th season at Florida State. If you do a job for 18 years, you’re going to accumulate wins. Give Hamilton credit for surviving in a cutthroat profession, and give FSU administration credit for staying with Hamilton at a football-and-baseball school in a basketball-first conference.
The second thing to point out is that Hamilton will have chances to build his legacy in the coming weeks, starting with this Louisville game. If FSU can sweep Louisville — having beating the Cardinals in Kentucky in January — the Seminoles would very probably move to the 2 line in bracketology. Florida State has never been seeded as high as No. 2 or No. 1. Getting a 2 seed for the first time in school history would be a huge accomplishment for Hamilton.
Getting to his first Final Four with that 2 seed would give his resume a completeness it currently lacks.
Hamilton, to his immense credit, is becoming a better and better coach as he gets older (though he looks so much younger than his age). Florida State doesn’t go through prolonged losing streaks anymore. The wheels don’t fall off the wagon the way they did in those painful NIT seasons from the past. Florida State manages tempo better and doesn’t get lost at the offensive end of the floor — not to the same extent it once did.
Beyond the tangible improvements in in-game coaching, Hamilton owns a career resume which can be adjusted to make him look even better in the context of ACC history.
I know that Miami was part of the Big East in the 1990s, but Hamilton did well at Miami, taking the Hurricanes to the Sweet 16. The wins he collected in Miami were not ACC wins, but it can be said that Hamilton has won a much bigger stack of games at current ACC member schools. It’s a slight adjustment, but if you make that adjustment, Hamilton’s reputation grows.
There is a lot to like in Leonard Hamilton’s story. The exciting — and nerve-wracking — part of this journey is that Ham’s legacy can be significantly enhanced in the coming weeks, which also means that the failure to attain said enhancement would carry a sting.
Victory can be appreciated more when one accepts the costs of defeat. The fact that Hamilton has won so much, however, shows how far he has already climbed.
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