Florida State basketball coach Leonard Hamilton is stepping down at the end of the season.
Hamilton, who is being sued by several former players over allegations he failed to deliver on name, image and likeness promises, announced his decision Monday following a team meeting.
The 76-year-old Hamilton has coached the Seminoles for 23 seasons, winning an ACC Tournament title in 2012 after defeating Miami (Fla.), Duke and North Carolina on consecutive days. The Seminoles also won the 2019-20 regular-season conference title before the pandemic halted postseason play.
FSU has lost four straight games, including three on the road, and is 13-9 going into Tuesday night’s home matchup against Notre Dame. Hamilton is in the final year of a contract that pays him $2.25 million annually.
Hamilton led FSU to Sweet 16 appearances in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The 2019-20 team was viewed as among FSU’s best, and ESPN analyst Dick Vitale wrote a book about how the Seminoles would have won the national title.
But since the trip to the Sweet 16 in March 2021, FSU has missed the NCAA Tournament as well as the NIT. The Seminoles have gone 56-62 in the four seasons since, including an injury-riddled 9-23 campaign in 2022-23.
Hamilton will coach FSU’s final nine regular-season games and the ACC Tournament.
While there have been struggles on the court, adjusting to the transfer portal and generating enough NIL contributions to compete in the ACC, Hamilton has graduated nearly all of FSU’s four-year players since arriving in Tallahassee more than two decades ago.
Hamilton was sued by six players on the 2023-24 team for what they viewed as unfulfilled NIL obligations.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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