TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Florida State basketball coach Leonard Hamilton has added Charlton Young, a veteran of more than 15 years as a coach on the Division I level and most recently the head coach at Georgia Southern, to his coaching staff. Young will immediately become involved in all phases of the Seminoles’ nationally respected program including game preparation, player development, recruiting and planning for the upcoming 2013-14 season.
Young comes to Florida State after four seasons as the head coach at Georgia Southern (2010-2013). During his tenure, he guided the Eagles to the first win in program history over an ACC team (Virginia Tech) and earned victories over perennial NCAA Tournament participants Davidson and Charleston during the 2013 season.
Young replaces Corey Williams on Hamilton’s staff; Williams was named the head coach at Stetson University on June 3, 2013.
“We are fortunate to have a coach of Charlton’s caliber join our staff, said Hamilton. “He is an extremely knowledgeable basketball coach, a great skill developer and an outstanding recruiter. Charlton is a great addition to our program because he complements our staff extremely well and we look forward to him being a part of the success we intend to have as we continue to establish Florida State as a program of national significance.”
Young, 41, was a three-time all-conference selection at Georgia Southern and still leads the Eagles in career 3-point field goal percentage and still ranks among the top five in steals and assists. In 1992, he led the Eagles to one of the three NCAA Tournament appearances in school history and still holds the school record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game with nine against Oklahoma State.
Prior to his appointment as the head coach at Georgia Southern, Young was the assistant coach at Georgia Tech (2006-09) where he helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. He was named one of the top 25 assistant coaches in the nation in 2006 by Rivals.com and his first recruiting class at Georgia Tech was ranked seventh nationally by Dave Telep of Scout.com.
Young was the associate head coach at Tennessee Chattanooga during the 2004-05 season. He helped coach the Mocs to the Southern Conference Tournament championship and their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a decade. Young has also been an assistant coach at Auburn (1996-97, 2000-04), Northeastern (1999-200) and Jacksonville (1997-99) during his career.
“As a native Floridian, I am excited to be part of coach Hamilton’s staff and proud to be part of the Florida State basketball tradition,” said Young. “Coach Hamilton is one of the coaches I have watched intently and learned a great deal from during my career. The opportunity to work alongside him as well as Stan Jones and Dennis Gates is very exciting to me. Coach Jones is one of the top assistant coaches in the country and I recruited Dennis relentlessly when I was at Northeastern.”
Florida State has played in four of the last five NCAA Tournaments, won the 2012 ACC Championship and has played in a school record eight consecutive NCAA Tournaments. The Seminoles are the third win ingest program in the ACC since the start of the 2005-06 season. Senior All-America candidate Okra White, who averaged a career-high 12.4 points and a career-high and team leading 5.9 rebounds in 2013, leads a cast of four returning starters for the Seminoles as the 2013-14 season quickly approaches.
