Leonard Hamilton

For the Australian politician, see Len Hamilton. For the English army officer and cricket, see Leonard Hamilton (cricketer).

James Leonard Hamilton (born August 4, 1948) is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Florida State University from 2002 to 2025. He is a former head coach at Oklahoma State University, the University of Miami, and for the National Basketball Association's Washington Wizards.

Leonard Hamilton

Hamilton in 2013
Biographical details
Born	(1948-08-04) August 4, 1948 (age 77) Gastonia, North Carolina, U.S.
Playing career
1966–1968	Gaston CC
1969–1971	UT Martin
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1971–1974	Austin Peay (assistant)
1974–1986	Kentucky (assistant)
1986–1990	Oklahoma State
1990–2000	Miami (FL)
2000–2001	Washington Wizards
2002–2025	Florida State
Head coaching record
Overall	660–506 (.566) (college) 19–63 (.232) (NBA)
Tournaments	14–11 (NCAA) 10–11 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Big East regular season (2000) ACC tournament (2012) ACC regular season (2020)
Awards
UPI National Coach of the Year (1995) 2× Big East Coach of the Year (1995, 1999) 3× ACC Coach of the Year (2009, 2012, 2020) Ben Jobe Award (2021)

In his 33 years as a collegiate head coach, his teams qualified for 12 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments and 11 National Invitation Tournaments, highlighted by appearances in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight (2018) and Sweet 16 (2011, 2019, 2021) with Florida State, and a Sweet 16 appearance with Miami (2000). Other career benchmarks include the Big East Conference regular season championship in 2000, the ACC tournament title in 2012, and the ACC regular season championship in 2020. Hamilton is the winningest coach in school history at Florida State and one of only four coaches to have 200 regular season ACC wins.

Biography

Hamilton played college basketball at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he was the first Black player in program history.^[1][2] He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.^[3]

Hamilton was an assistant coach and associate head coach at the University of Kentucky from 1974 to 1986 under then-head coach Joe B. Hall. He was the first Black coach in Kentucky basketball history, and is credited with helping Hall to fully integrate the program.^[4] Hamilton was on the staff at Kentucky when it finished as the NCAA runner-up in 1975, won the 1978 NCAA Championship and went to the 1984 Final Four. He was a successful recruiter for Kentucky basketball, with players including Jack Givens, James Lee, Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin^[5]

Hamilton was named ACC Coach of the Year on March 10, 2009, and a second time in 2012,^[6] and again in 2020.^[7] Hamilton is the first coach to be named coach of the year in both the Big East and the ACC. In 2018, he was named the Clarence "Big House" Gaines National Coach of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.^[8]

On February 3, 2025, Florida State announced that Hamilton would be resigning as head coach at the conclusion of the 2024–25 season.^[9]

Head-coaching record

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Oklahoma State Cowboys (Big Eight Conference) (1986–1990)
1986–87	Oklahoma State	8–20	4–10	7th
1987–88	Oklahoma State	14–16	4–10	T–6th
1988–89	Oklahoma State	17–13	7–7	T–4th	NIT Second Round
1989–90	Oklahoma State	17–14	6–8	5th	NIT Second Round
Oklahoma State:		56–63 (.471)	21–35 (.375)
Miami Hurricanes (NCAA Division I Independent) (1990–1991)
1990–91	Miami	9–19
Miami Hurricanes (Big East Conference) (1991–2000)
1991–92	Miami	8–24	1–17	10th
1992–93	Miami	10–17	7–11	9th
1993–94	Miami	7–20	0–18	10th
1994–95	Miami	15–13	9–9	5th	NIT First Round
1995–96	Miami	15–13	8–10	4th (Big East 7)
1996–97	Miami	16–13	9–9	T–4th (Big East 7)	NIT First Round
1997–98	Miami	18–10	11–7	2nd (Big East 7)	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1998–99	Miami	23–7	15–3	2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
1999–00	Miami	23–11	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
Miami:		144–147 (.495)	73–87 (.456)
Florida State Seminoles (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2002–2025)
2002–03	Florida State	14–15	4–12	9th
2003–04	Florida State	19–14	6–10	T–7th	NIT Second Round
2004–05	Florida State	12–19	4–12	T–10th
2005–06	Florida State	20–10	9–7	5th	NIT Second Round
2006–07	Florida State	22–13	7–9	T–8th	NIT Quarterfinal
2007–08	Florida State	19–15	7–9	T–7th	NIT First Round
2008–09	Florida State	25–10	10–6	4th	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2009–10	Florida State	22–10	10–6	T–3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2010–11	Florida State	23–11	11–5	3rd	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2011–12	Florida State	25–10	12–4	3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2012–13	Florida State	18–16	9–9	6th	NIT First Round
2013–14	Florida State	22–14	9–9	T–7th	NIT Semifinal
2014–15	Florida State	17–16	8–10	9th
2015–16	Florida State	20–14	8–10	T–11th	NIT Second Round
2016–17	Florida State	26–9	12–6	T–2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2017–18	Florida State	23–12	9–9	T–8th	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2018–19	Florida State	29–8	13–5	4th	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2019–20	Florida State	26–5	16–4	1st	Postseason cancelled due to COVID-19
2020–21	Florida State	18–7	11–4	2nd	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2021–22	Florida State	17–14	10–10	8th
2022–23	Florida State	9–23	7–13	12th
2023–24	Florida State	17–16	10–10	T–8th
2024–25	Florida State	17–15	8–12	T–9th
Florida State:		460–296 (.608)	211–191 (.525)
Total:		660–506 (.566)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

NBA

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Washington	2000–01	82	19	63	.232	7th in Atlantic	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Career		82	19	63	.232		—	—	—	—

Personal life

Hamilton is married to Claudette Hamilton and they have two children.^[10]