FSU veteran coach Leonard Hamilton withdraws "unfortunately" At the end of the season in Talahasi – Sports ALDENTE

Longtime Florida Leonard Hamilton Basketball coach retires at the end of the season.

Hamilton, who was tried by six former players for claiming that he had failed to fulfill the promises of the name, an image and likeness (NIL), gave a message on Monday after a team meeting.

“I have a lot of happiness to be able to give this work everything without regret,” Hamilton says in a statement. “Every head coach inherits inheritance and is obliged to leave the job better than inherit it. I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve here in the last 23 seasons.

“We were a consistent contender and created success for our players during their time here. So many of them have been able to be successful in life. I hope it will be remembered as my heritage. “

The 76-year-old Hamilton is one of the longest-held coaches at Basketball College. He is the head coach of the Third Division I, who retired this season, following Tony Bennett from Virginia and Jim Laragaga in Miami, and they are both in the Atlantic coast conference.

Hamilton is ranked 10th among the active Division I coaches in victories. He is a coach at Miami and then with the NBA Wizards in Washington, before he came to Florida in 2002. Under his leadership, Seminoles made 16 post -season appearances and has 12 seasons with 20 or more wins.

FSU won the ACC tournament in 2012 after defeating Miami, Duke and North Carolina in the back matches. Seminoles also won the ACC title for the 2019-20 regular season before the pandemic ended the post-season game.

However, FSU has been fighting recently, losing four straight games, including three on the road. The team sits at 13-9, heading for a home match against Notre Dame. Hamilton is in the last year of his contract, which pays him $ 2.25 million a year.

Hamilton led the FSU to Sweet 16 appearances in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The 2019-20 team is regarded as one of the best of FSU, and analyst Dick Vitale even wrote a book stating that seminars would win the national title , if the season wasn’t ‘T is cut from Covid-19.

But after the trip Sweet 16 in March 2021, FSU missed both the NCAA and NIT tournament. The team has traveled 56-62 in the four seasons since then, including a difficult 9-23 season in 2022-23 due to injuries.

Hamilton will coach the last nine games for a regular FSU season and the ACC tournament.

Despite the struggles of the team, Hamilton has been praised for his efforts to finish almost all four -year FSU players since he arrived in Talahasi more than 20 years ago. However, the recent court case has become a major history. Former players claim that Hamilton has not made a promise to provide each of them $ 250,000 in the compensation of zero.

Players – Darin Green, Jr., De’ante Green, Kamer Fletcher, Josh Nickelbury, Primo Spears and Jalen Warley – put a lawsuit in Leon County District Court in December. They claim that Hamilton promised the money from his “business partners”, but payments have never come.

The court case states that the players have come out of practice last season because of the missed payments and believe that they are boycotting a match since February 2023 against Duke, but eventually played after Hamilton promised payments that have never arrived.

“The personal character and integrity of coach Hamilton and his leadership have set a huge standard for all FSU athletics,” said FSU athletics director Michael Alford. “Few people have been so important for the construction of the positive reputation of seminoic athletics.”

FSU President Richard McCulow added: “Leonard Hamilton is a beacon of class and integrity, whose leadership serves as an indelible example that competitive achievements, academic achievements and public services have been achieved in a leading public institution.

The heritage of coach Hamilton extends far beyond Talahassi and Basketball College. He is one of the most respected and beloved FSU ambassadors throughout the country and in his profession. “

SBYGOOLE || []) .push ({});