Father-figure role a big part of Hamilton’s coaching

Leonard Hamilton will be honored along with six other individuals at the Civic Center on Thursday night.
Photo courtesy FSU athletics

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

Leonard Hamilton was right there when Corey Williams got the phone call with an offer to become head basketball coach at Stetson University almost five years ago.

 
Hamilton reacted like most proud fathers would, overwhelmed with emotions. Neither man could hold back the tears.

 
That day was still vivid a few days ago when Williams recalled the impact that Hamilton had in preparing him for his big day.

 
“I could not thank him enough for the opportunity he gave me as a player and a coach,” Williams said. “He was so happy for me. I could remember the moment; how happy and proud he was of me. I always felt like I was his son, but at that moment I knew I was his son.”

 
Hundreds more could say the same thing of Hamilton, head basketball coach at Florida State for the past 15 years. Hamilton began grooming Williams for his future more than 31 years ago when he was a player for Hamilton at Oklahoma State.

 
The lives that Hamilton has touched during his 46 years of coaching are countless. He will be recognized for that and a lengthy list of achievements, including championships he’s won in the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference over the years.

 
Hamilton will be one of seven individuals who will be honored Thursday night at the Bethel Empowerment Community Banquet. It takes place at the Civic Center.

 
“It’s not about me,” Hamilton said, reacting to the honor. “It’s about God’s grace and the blessing that I have received that has allowed me to gain respect and notoriety to utilize the gifts he’s given me to be a blessing to other people. The place I come from I could not be here without God’s grace.”

 
Hamilton’s path to becoming one of the most-sought-after college coaches began the day a friend encouraged him to shoot hoops. His climb from the little town of Gastonia, N.C., was rapid.

 
After graduating from UT Martin in 1971, Hamilton had assistant coaching roles at Austin Peay and Kentucky. In 1981, he took his first head-coaching job at Oklahoma State, followed by a one-year stint with the Washington Wizards in the NBA.

 
Hamilton started his FSU career in 2002. Since coming to FSU only six players who spent four years hasn’t graduated, giving him the highest graduation rate in the ACC.

 
He’s impacted his players’ lives at every stop. So much so that many of them refer to him as pops. Others named him godfather to their children and call on him for help making major decisions in their lives.

 
“He would always open his door for me to come in and talk,” Williams said. “It was not just a coach-player relationship. It was a father to a son.

 
“He would ask how you’re doing today, did you call your father and your mom. Those were some of the questions and that helped me become a man. He had a profound influence on who I am today because he took the time to sit down and find out what’s going on in my life.”

 
Like Williams, many of Hamilton’s former players don’t forget a birthday or father’s day, either.

 
“To me that (impacting lives) is the most important thing that we do,” Hamilton said. “It’s not about how many championships you win, how many trophies, how many accolades and awards you’ve gotten.”

 
For as many years that Hamilton has been influencing young men, there is nothing easy about the job, he said. One major issue is keeping some players, who might be influenced by outside voices, walking the straight and narrow.

 
The advantage that Hamilton has, though, is that he has experienced many of the things he teaches.

 
“I take all the wisdom that I’ve gained through the years; things that have happened positively and all the things that have been challenging to us and we try to come up with a system,” Hamilton said. “It’s a program that is consistent with where we’re trying to get our kids to.”