‘Chief architect’: Gates reminisces on mentor Hamilton as SEC tourney opener looms
Seated next to his wife, Claudette, Leonard Hamilton cracked a smile while watching a legacy video commemorating his 23 years as Florida State men’s basketball coach after a 76-69 win over SMU on Saturday in Tallahassee, Florida.
On Feb. 3, Hamilton announced he was stepping down from his post at the end of the season.
“It’s just time,” Hamilton said in a postgame news conference Feb. 4. “It’s time for what’s best for Florida State and I also think what’s best for me.”
Hamilton is the fifth-winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history with a 460-295 record with the Seminoles. He is the winningest coach in program history.
Along with the on-court accolades, the three-time ACC Coach of the Year (2009, 2012 and 2020) will leave another legacy behind through his coaching tree.
Missouri coach Dennis Gates served as an assistant under Hamilton at Florida State from 2004-05 and 2011-19, citing Hamilton as a tremendous support system in his life.
Gates and No. 7 seed Mizzou will face the winner of 10th-seeded Mississippi State (20-11, 8-10) and 15th-seeded LSU (14-17, 3-15) in the second round of the SEC Tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
“I’m just thankful that Leonard Hamilton put his arms around me how he did and put me in position to learn on his watch, learn the hard way and learn through failure,” Gates told reporters at Southeastern Conference Media Days. “He never took those responsibilities from me. ... He allowed his doors to be open; he shared stories.”
Last month, Gates reflected on the impact Hamilton has had on basketball, revolving around his mentorship of up-and-coming coaches.
“What he’s done for the game of basketball is definitely something that’s unmatched in my eyes,” Gates said. “He’s touched so many people, and he’s used this platform as a ministry for himself to impact and change lives.”
Coming off a 2023-24 season that saw the Tigers go 0-18 in SEC play, Gates reminisced on a story Hamilton told him that he had never truly understood the meaning of years in the future.
While coaching at Miami, Hamilton finished the 1993-94 season winless in Big East Conference play, finishing 7-20 (0-18 in league).
“One of the greatest stories he ... told me, was not when he was Big East Coach of the Year, not when he was associate head coach for Joe B. Hall at Kentucky, but when he was at Miami and he went (0-18) in conference,” Gates said. “That was one of the greatest stories.
“I didn’t know back then why he would share it. All those trophies, all those rings, he would share the story every single month - or every two months - of how he struggled in certain situations.”
Hamilton’s Hurricanes bounced back the next season, going 15-13 overall and 9-9 in the Big East.
“The number of lenses of that story that he shared, it has allowed me to get through the tough times, the growth I needed to make it through those moments but also look at it for what it is and understand that something else was coming down the pipe in a positive (way),” Gates said Feb. 7.
Gates’ Tigers also saw a resurgence in the 2024-25 season. He coached the No. 21 team in the AP Top 25 poll to a 21-10 regular-season record and a 10-8 mark in the SEC.
“(Hamilton’s) been on the sidelines for 50 years, and when you have that, he’ll never get the credit he deserves,” Gates said. “He’s been a chief architect in building programs; he’s given me my confidence and allowed me to get better on his watch.”
The two-time Horizon League Coach of the Year (2020 and 2021) was introduced to Hamilton by George Raveling, a 2013 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and 2015 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Since then, both have been supportive of each other throughout their careers.
“He’s allowed me to sit in his offices and mirror him, almost like a shadow, and that’s how I saw myself getting better,” Gates said. “When it was time to get out of the nest, he pushed me out.
“He supported me. He showed up at my first press conference, and it’s something that I’ll never forget. ... It became his dream to see my dreams come true.”
On a Feb. 11 episode of “Tiger Talk” from Harpo’s in Columbia, Gates expressed his interest in coaching 20 years at the same school like Hamilton.
“I want to break Norm (Stewart’s) records,” Gates said. “My mentor, Leonard Hamilton, just got to 23 years. He’s retiring. My hats off to him. You won’t see these things happen often during this time of college athletics. I hope I’m the next coach to get to 20 years at one institution.”
Gates said Hamilton saved lives as a coach, something he admires and aspires to work toward as a leader. The third-year Mizzou coach claims that he will always be “Coach Gates” to student-athletes, regardless of where their college career takes them.
“He tries to impact people, and he’s done that for me,” Gates said of Hamilton after the Tigers’ 91-83 home loss to Kentucky on Saturday. “I want to impact my players, no different than my high school coaches, AAU coaches (and) college coaches have impacted my life. These guys mean a lot to me; I’m not afraid to tell them I love them; they’re not afraid to tell me that back. These guys mean a lot to me. I’m not afraid to tell them I love them; they’re not afraid to tell me that back.
“I’m not afraid to put my arms around them, let them know I care or put my arms around them and give them a headlock if they need that.”
Hamilton and 11th-seeded Florida State (17-14, 8-12) next take the court against 14th-seeded Syracuse (13-18, 7-13) in the first round of the ACC Tournament at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 10:08 AM.