Don’t Sleep On Leonard Hamilton And Florida State

Leonard Hamilton never has been one for much sleep. 

Florida State’s 71-year-old coaching legend says he only needs four or five hours a night, a trait that has followed him throughout his 32-year run as a major college basketball coach — with a one-year stopover coaching Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards — at Oklahoma State, Miami and, since 2002-03, Florida State. 

But that doesn’t mean he’s above taking the occasional catnap.

“We’ll be in film, and you’ll look over and he’ll be asleep for like five minutes and then wake back up,” said Trent Forrest, a fifth-year senior guard for the fourth-ranked Seminoles. “I don’t know how he does it at his age. He definitely is (superhuman).” 

Hamilton was named Coach of the Year in the ACC this week, the fifth such award for him in a sneaky-good career. That includes a pair of top-coach honors in the Big East back in the 1990s, when he was at Miami.

This, however, might be his finest coaching job yet as he has guided an inexperienced roster to a 26-5 record and the ACC regular-season title. 

Already the winningest coach in Seminoles history, Hamilton has coached more ACC wins than just four others in the league’s long history: You might have heard of the others: Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Roy Williams and Gary Williams.

While that group combined for 11 NCAA Tournament titles, Hamilton is still waiting for his first trip to the Final Four. With 582 career victories — not counting 22 vacated wins in 2006-07 due to a university-wide academic fraud case — Hamilton ranks third among active coaches without a Final Four appearance. 

Cliff Ellis of Coastal Carolina is 11th all-time with 782 wins, and Davidson’s Bob McKillop has 594 wins. 

Whether he gets to Atlanta this year or not, Hamilton has no plans to step down anytime soon. Like fellow septuagenarians Coach K, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun, Hamilton forges on.

What’s keeping these coaches going when the likes of John Wooden (64), Smith (66), Denny Crum (64) and even Joe B. Hall (56), Hamilton’s early-career mentor at Kentucky, all got out much earlier?  

“I’ve never had any reason even to think about that because I’m enjoying what I do,” Hamilton said after a recent comeback win at Notre Dame. “I think our teams are getting better every year. I just think maybe people are healthier. I don’t know.”

He paused and smiled as another cheer came rushing out of the visitors’ locker room down the hall. 

“I feel wonderful,” Hamilton said. 

Film naps aside, Hamilton’s players marvel at his energy level and the ways he finds to connect with kids half a century younger. He cracks jokes. He dances. He plays gospel music before practices.

All while demanding high-level intensity at both ends of the court. His oft-repeated catch phrase, according to junior wing M.J. Walker: “All your heart. All your soul. Every single time.”

Like his teammates, Walker knows age is just a number when it comes to his coach. 

“Coach Ham looks around late 50s to me,” Walker said. “He still looks good. He’s a good guy, man. I love him.” 

It’s that connection that keeps Hamilton going and keeps his teams winning. He jokes that he plans to keep coaching “as long as I can remember the names on the back of the uniforms” and says he has no timetable for retirement. 

“I don’t golf, I don’t fish, I don’t hunt, I don’t care that much for traveling,” he said. “So what am I going to do?”

Mike Berardino is a freelance writer based in South Bend, Ind. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.