TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Leonard Hamilton, who led Florida State to the 2012 ACC Championship and cemented the Seminoles as the third winningest program in the ACC since the start of the 2005-06 season, has earned a contract extension that will keep him as the Seminoles' head basketball coach through the 2016-17 season.
"I am extremely thankful to President Eric Barron and our administration for allowing us to continue to build upon the foundation that we have worked so hard to put into place in my first 11 years at Florida State," said Hamilton. "We are excited for our university and our basketball program as we enter a new era in the Atlantic Coast Conference which is now the best league in the history of college basketball."
Hamilton, the two-time ACC Coach of the Year (2009 and 2012), has led Florida State to new heights since being named the Seminoles' head coach on March 19, 2002.
"We are excited to have Coach Hamilton continue to lead our basketball program at Florida State through the 2016-17 season," said Barron. "Coach Hamilton has led this program to unprecedented success including the first ACC Championship in school history and eight straight postseason appearances. He is the second-longest tenured coach in the conference and under his leadership FSU is in excellent position entering the new ACC, which is the strongest basketball conference in the nation."
The ACC, long considered to be the toughest conference in all of college basketball, became even tougher on July 1 with the additions of national powerhouses Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame giving the ACC three of the top five all-time winningest programs in college basketball (Duke, North Carolina, and Syracuse).
“President Barron continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to our basketball program by spearheading the acquisition and renovation of the Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center and supporting our efforts to upgrade our existing facilities including the Basketball Training Center. His support will allow us to continue to move our program forward in this new and exciting era of college basketball."
In addition to the Seminoles' success on the court, Hamilton continues to graduate his players at a rate that exceeds the national average with a graduation rate of better than 94 percent since his arrival in Tallahassee.
"As we enter a new era of ACC basketball, there is nobody better to lead this program into the nation's toughest conference than Leonard Hamilton," said Interim Director of Athletics Vanessa Fuchs. "Over the last eight seasons, FSU basketball ranks among the top three in the conference in winning percentage and the team has played in the postseason in each of those years as well. We are all looking forward to future success with Leonard continuing to build on the strong foundation he has established here in Tallahassee.
"Our goal is to become one of the elite programs in all of college basketball," said Hamilton. "With the continued support of the university and all of our tremendous fans, we are well on our way to achieving our goal."
