Florida State Men's Basketball: Insider names rumored options for head coach hire

Florida State will have a head coaching job open at the end of this season with the retirement of Leonard Hamilton. Now, towards the start of March, another list of possible candidates has come out for the Seminoles.

Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 shared a list of six names that sources have mentioned regarding the next head coach at FSU. Four are current college coaches, three head coaches and one assistant, while a pair are assistants in the NBA.

Sam Cassell – Boston Celtics (Assistant)
Luke Loucks – Sacramento Kings (Assistant)
Andy Kennedy – UAB Blazers
Bryan Hodgson – Arkansas State
Bucky McMillan – Samford Bulldogs
Chris Carrawell – Duke Blue Devils (Assistant)

Let’s take a look at each of those six apparent names, starting at the collegiate level, who are options down in Tallahassee.

Andy Kennedy is the most-experienced of the college options with nearly two decades spent at Cincinnati, Ole Miss, and now UAB. He has posted a record of 386-216 (.641) in his career with four trips made to the NCAA Tournament. With that, his offenses have been some of the nation’s higher-scoring ones at each stop with them averaging 76 ppg. for an average finish in the Top-70, including 78.9 ppg. the past five years at a mid-major with the Blazers, plus a high of all of those years at 83.3 ppg. this season as one of the top teams in the AAC, since arriving in 2020.

McMillan then has the next-most experience through five seasons spent at Samford. He has an overall mark of 99-50 (.664) in that time, including the past three years where the Bulldogs are 72-26 (.735) with three conference titles and their first berth in the NCAA Tournament since 2000. They also, with ‘Bucky Ball’, are one of the better offenses who play at one of the top paces among the mid-majors with an average of 80 points with an average finish, with two in the top-dozen the past two years, in the Top-35.

Hodgson, a former assistant of Nate Oats, is in his second season as a head coach himself at Arkansas State. He has had a record of 42-26 (.618), including 22-9 (.710) in a current four-way tie atop the Sun Belt, to this point with the Red Wolves. Offense is again a focus with both having been in the Top-60 by averaging 79.1 ppg. but their defense also improved in a major way this season by allowing only 69.2 points.

Carrawell is then the final name from college. Still, while having not been a head coach, he has coached at the highest level with him having spent the past seven seasons at his alma mater at Duke plus four years as an assistant at Marquette. The former All-American and All-ACC member has served several roles with the Blue Devils in two separate stints from grad assistant, strength and conditioning coach, and video coordinator all the way to assistant coach and now associate head coach under Mike Krzyzewski and now Jon Scheyer. It’s also worth noting that Jai Lucas, another assistant in Durham, is reportedly a top target for another in-conference job with the Miami Hurricanes.

Then, from the association, both options are former Seminoles.

Cassell has been with the Boston Celtics the past two seasons with stops with the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Washington Wizards since 2009 following decade and a half in the league spent with eight teams where he won three championships and was a one-time All-Star and selection as All-NBA. That’s after Cassell spent two seasons at Florida State (1991-1993) where averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.3 steals as the starting point guard for two teams that made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. He was also two-time selection as All-ACC before being a first-round pick in the 1993 NBA Draft.

Loucks has then been an assistant the past three seasons with the Sacramento Kings while also having worked with the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors. He played for FSU back from 2008-2012 under Hamilton, as a bench player before becoming a starter as a senior, and posted 4.4 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.2 rebounds. He’d then play for four years professionally in the NBA G-League as well as overseas in Europe prior to starting his coaching career.

Florida State (16-13, 7-11) still has two games left, which are more winnable than some in their past six the last three weeks, to end the regular season before at least one in the ACC Tournament. That leaves about two weeks or so before their coaching search really gets going this offseason with these names being possible ones that could emerge over the spring.