Brad Brownell commends career of Leonard Hamilton in opening statement

The Clemson Tigers and Florida State Seminoles met on the court Saturday for the final meeting of the regular season. For head coaches Brad Brownell and Leonard Hamilton, it became their final game against one another in their respective careers.

Hamilton announced that this would be his last season coaching. With that in mind, Brownell opened his press conference after the game praising the legendary head coach.

“My opening statement is just going to be — just really thank Coach Hamilton for all he’s done for our profession,” Brad Brownell said. “You know, he’s a legend. I hope he becomes a Hall of Famer.”

Leonard Hamilton began his coaching career in 1971 as an assistant coach at Austin Peay. By 1986, he earned his first head coaching job at Oklahoma State. Since then, he’s had stops at Miami, in the NBA with the Washington Wizards, and since 2002 with Florida State. Over the course of that time, he has won 658 college basketball games, going to the Sweet Sixteen five different times. Hamilton was also named Big East Coach of the Year twice and ACC Coach of the Year three times.

“He’s just done so much for so many, certainly for a lot of black coaches growing up. He’s been a mentor and a leader. You know, I’ve had the good fortune of competing against his teams every year twice,” Brownell said. “And seen some of their great Florida State teams over the years. He does an unbelievable job. Probably doesn’t get enough credit for the way he recruits to his style and their style of play throughout the course of his career. It’s very unique. It’s obviously been highly successful.”

Brad Brownell landed at Clemson in 2010. Since then, he’s competed against Leonard Hamilton and Florida State annually, with Brownell going 8-2 in his last 10 games against the Seminoles.

“I just have a ton of respect for him. Over the years, obviously, I’ve been in the league 15 [years]. He’s been with me the whole time,” Brownell said. “More like I’ve been with him. So, we’ve been in a lot of different settings together. He’s a consummate professional and gentleman. I just want to make sure I start the day with that.”

The game on Saturday wasn’t particularly close. Clemson won the game by 26 points, which was the second most points the Tigers had ever beaten the Seminoles by in a road game. Now, Clemson will look to keep that momentum going next Saturday against SMU. Florida State, meanwhile, will hope to bounce back against rival Miami on Wednesday.