NIL, transfer portal take toll on legendary coaches. FSU’s Leonard Hamilton still standing

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For nearly four decades, Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton has been well-respected in college basketball and has made steady progress in coaching and recruiting.

It was not until earlier this week that six of his former players sued Hamilton for unpaid NIL compensation worth $1.5 million dollars.

Hamilton has a 37-year career, including being FSU’s winningest head coach in program history. Just two days after the suit, FSU stated that it was investigating the NIL conflict.

While it remains to be seen how the lawsuit will be developed, here is how NIL and the transfer portal have negatively impacted college basketball:

Leonard Hamilton, the last remaining ACC coach standing

Some head coaches are reluctant to change, and some are willing to endure it. Hamilton might be a combination of both.

Since 2023, six head coaches (Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Mike Brey, Tony Bennett, Jim Boheim and Jim Larrañaga) have left their respected ACC programs after putting in 20-plus years of coaching.

Hamilton is the longest-tenured head coach in the conference, in the middle of his 23rd season with the Seminoles.

With 192 regular-season victories, he is tied for fourth in the ACC’s all-time regular-season wins and fifth all-time winningest coach in conference history.

With the transfer portal, NIL deals with being part of the new age of college sports, and some of the coaches have expressed their frustration with the new landscape of college basketball.

FSU men’s basketball vs. Tulane

Larrañaga is the most recent coach to step down from Miami nearly halfway through the season. He spoke about how the NIL took its toll on him after making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in the last two seasons.

What shocked me beyond belief was after we made it to the Final Four, just 18 months ago, the very first time I met with the players, eight of them decided they were going to put their name in the portal and leave,” Larrañaga said last week during his press conference.

“I said, ‘Don’t…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nil-transfer-portal-toll-legendary-110257751.html

Author : Tallahassee Democrat

Publish date : 2025-01-03 11:02:00

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