Winning In The ACC

When Florida State faces Southern Mississippi tonight, coach Leonard Hamilton will be going for his 264^th win at Tallahassee.

Hamilton, in his 15^th season at FSU, already is the school’s leader in career victories. A win over the Golden Eagles – previously the Tigers, Normalities, Yellow Jackets, Confederates, and Southerns (with KKK founder Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest as the mascot) – would leave Hamilton tied for 10^th place all-time in wins in ACC competition.

Frank McGuire also had 264 at North Carolina and South Carolina in 15 full seasons when schedules were shorter.

The Florida State coach additionally had 144 wins in a decade at Miami when it was a Big East school. Add those victories to his present FSU total by, say, counting total wins at current ACC schools, and Hamilton would rank fourth between Maryland’s Gary Williams and UNC’s Roy Williams at 408 career victories.

With four nonconference games left after tonight, when FSU hosts Wake Forest on Dec. 28 to open the ACC season for each school, Hamilton should stand ninth in conference career coaching victories.

The next-closest active coach is Virginia’s Tony Bennett, with 172 wins at an ACC helm pending tonight’s home game against Wake Forest. Bennett is in his eighth season at Charlottesville, averaging about 23.7 victories per year.