Florida State has hired Sacramento Kings assistant Luke Loucks as its next coach, the school announced on Sunday. The deal is for five years, sources told CBS Sports.
Loucks is an alumnus of the university, having played for outgoing coach Leonard Hamilton from 2008-12. He got into coaching in 2016 with the Golden State Warriors, where he worked until 2021. He’s been with the Kings since 2022. CBS Sports previously reported Loucks was tagged as the front-runner for the job in late February. In recent days he has been working on building a staff, sources said, including searching for a general manager to help manage the portal immediately.
“I am incredibly honored and excited for the opportunity to become the head coach for the Florida State men’s basketball team,” Loucks said in a statement. “FSU has a rich basketball tradition, and I look forward to building on the legacy of our previous coaches, especially Coach Hamilton. I’d like to thank the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors for providing me with a strong coaching foundation. I’m eager to build our coaching staff with the best and brightest basketball coaches in America. They will have characteristics that support and push me while helping me build and develop a competitive team year after year. We will have a standard that we stick to on and off the court that will help build a championship-level culture. I am privileged to have seen firsthand what winning feels like at Florida State, and I am hungry for more.”
The news dovetails with Hamilton’s 23-year run with the program coming to an end. On Saturday, the school honored him with a ceremony, including bringing back many of Hamilton’s college teammates from UT Martin. FSU finished the regular season 17-14 after Saturday’s home finale against SMU. The win was Hamilton’s 200th regular-season victory in the ACC, putting him alongside Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and Roy Williams as the only coaches to reach that threshold.
The program hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2021. The Seminoles will also play in next week’s ACC Tournament.
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“I’m excited to announce that Luke Loucks has accepted our offer to become the next head men’s basketball coach at Florida State,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said. “Luke will bring a unique combination of qualities to our program, and I’m excited to begin the next chapter of our basketball history under his leadership. Throughout basketball at both the professional and collegiate levels, Luke has earned a reputation as one of the rising stars in coaching. Having been a key part of some of the best of what FSU basketball has been as a player, he also brings proven ability to develop players at the highest level of the sport.”
Loucks joins Alex Jensen at Utah and Kevin Young at BYU as NBA assistants to take high-major jobs in the past 11 months. Jensen (previously with the Dallas Mavericks) was just hired at Utah on Thursday, while Young left the Phoenix Suns last year.
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