By Aidan Joly
Florida State needs a new head coach for the first time in over 20 years.
The school announced Monday that Leonard Hamilton, who has been the head coach in Tallahassee in 2002, will step down at the end of the season. With 456 wins, he is the winningest coach in program history, brought the program to the NCAA tournament eight times, made the Sweet 16 four times and the Elite Eight once.
Now, FSU will move on after the past few years haven’t gone so well, and considering that Hamilton is 76 years old, it’s time to make a move.
Now, who could take this job?
FSU has never been a hoops juggernaut, but it has had success before. Outside of the name brands in the league like Duke and North Carolina, it has as much potential as any of the other middle tier jobs in the league. With the league’s struggles, there’s certainly room for the next coach to elevate the program.
Below, here are seven potential candidates for the job.
Luke Loucks, Sacramento Kings assistant
Loucks, a popular young NBA assistant at 34, played at Florida State from 2008-2012 and made the NCAA tournament all four years he was with the program. After his playing career ended he has worked his way up through the coaching ranks beginning as an intern with the Golden State Warriors and currently serves as Sacramento’s de facto defensive coordinator. He has never been a head coach nor has he worked at the college level, but he knows the landscape well. He would fit into the mold of NBA assistants that colleges have begun to target the past few seasons.
Sam Cassell, Boston Celtics assistant
Another former FSU player in the NBA assistant ranks. Cassell is a program legend, helping lead the program to the Elite Eight in 1993 and has his jersey number retired. He has a similar path in that he worked his way up through the coaching ranks, but has never worked in college and has never been a head coach. He’s still regarded as one of the best assistant coaches in the league. Cassell is 55, so the question is would he be interested in leaving his situation with the best team in the NBA to go to the college ranks.
Dennis Gates, Missouri head coach
If this job opened up while Gates was at Cleveland State he would surely be the top candidate. Gates served as an assistant coach in Tallahassee from 2011 to 2019 and was crucial to the program’s on-court success as well as recruiting some of its best players at the time such as Jonathan Isaac and Malik Beasley, who are both in the NBA. He has a strange resume, Missouri was great in his first season before going 0-18 in SEC play last year, but Gates has righted things this season. Still, going from Missouri to Florida State would be considered a downgrade, and his buyout is close to $20 million.
Bucky McMillan, Samford head coach
McMillan has one of the most unique coaching stories out there. He went directly from coaching high school basketball to the Samford job in 2020. At Samford he is 95-46 with his high speed, press defense, three-point launching style of play, dubbed “Bucky Ball.” Samford won the Southern Conference last season and scored 89 points while being a bad call away from upsetting Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This year, he has the Bulldogs at 18-5 and 8-2 in the league. It’s only a matter of time before he is coaching in the high majors.
Takayo Siddle, UNC Wilmington head coach
Siddle checks a lot of boxes here and should be a hot name in this upcoming cycle. He is a native of ACC country in North Carolina, played and assisted under NC State head coach Kevin Keatts, has ACC assistant coaching experience in Raleigh, and he has head coaching success. He inherited a program that had struggled in the few years before he took over. After a first season under .500 he has led the Seahawks to three straight 20+ win seasons and is on track to do it for a fourth year, sitting at 18-5 and 8-2 in the CAA, good for second place in the league. He hasn’t made an NCAA tournament yet, but his name will get even hotter if UNCW does.
Chris Mack, Charleston head coach
Mack, the former head coach at Xavier and Louisville, has excelled in his return to coaching this season. He was fired from Louisville midway through the 2021-22 season and was out of the game until being brought back by Charleston this year. He has the Cougars at 17-6 and 7-3 in CAA play. Might he want to return to the high major ranks?
Will Wade, McNeese head coach
Wade is easily the hottest name on the market for this off-season. He is most known for his stint at LSU that unceremoniously ended due to NCAA violations, but he resurfaced at McNeese and has done a great job there, dominating the Southland and making the NCAA tournament and has a chance to do it again this season. He’s still only 42 as well. He’ll bring some negative PR, but he’s the best coach on the market. People forget that he got his coaching start in the ACC as a grad assistant at Clemson.
The pick: Let’s go with Siddle. He checks all of the boxes and has the ties and the success. At 38 he’s still very much on the younger side, allowing him to come to Tallahassee for the long haul.
AJ Hoops 