Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton holds unique role in Saturday’s Mizzou-KU game

Emotion around the Border War rivalry will flow differently for at least one interested observer.

When Kansas visits Missouri on Saturday, Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton can feel like something of a proud parent. He was instrumental in launching the coaching careers of the Jayhawks’ Bill Self and Mizzou’s Dennis Gates.

The first full-time job on a path that’s taken Self to two NCAA Championships and a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame was at his alma mater, Oklahoma State. Hamilton was a head coach for the first time when Self joined the staff.

Gates’ first job as a head coach, at Cleveland State, followed an eight-year run on Hamilton’s bench at Florida State. Gates is 9-0 in his debut season at Missouri and never discusses his career without mentioning Hamilton’s impact.

Let others feel animosity between the Border War rivals. Hamilton will look on with a smile and happy memories.

“I see similarities between Bill and Dennis,” Hamilton said. “A lot of similarities.”

Especially in their work ethic and how they relate to players, Hamilton said. Self and Gates come from different generations and backgrounds, but they became and remain head coaches because of the qualities that Hamilton saw in them at the earliest stages of their careers.

“You knew Bill was going to a success — he had what it took,” Hamilton said. “I think some day Dennis can achieve the same level of success at Missouri that Bill’s had at Kansas.”

Self’s bold response

The coaching tree that produced Self starts with Larry Brown, who hired the former Oklahoma State guard to serve as a graduate assistant for the Jayhawks in 1986. KU reached the Final Four in Dallas, and there’s where Brown and Kansas assistant Alvin Gentry, both friends of Hamilton, arranged an interview.

In a room at the Anatole Hotel, Hamilton immediately pressed Self.

“What can you do for me?” he asked the job candidate.

Self delivered a bold response.

“I’ll bring the starting point guard,” Self said. “He won’t come unless you hire me.”

That point guard, Jay Davis, was a high school teammate of Self’s. He had played a season at Oral Roberts but transferred to Oklahoma State and was playing intramural basketball.

“At the time, he was the best player on campus, hands down,” Self said. “I called him and said I need you do me a favor and come out for the team next season. He said he wasn’t going to play ball. I told him I took the job contingent on you playing.”

Self got the job and Davis started all 28 games for Hamilton’s first team. For two years, Self was a part-time assistant at his alma mater, earning $1,000 a month and absorbing all he could from Hamilton.

“You couldn’t outwork him, no matter what,” Self said. “He’d be the last person you talk to before you went to bed and the first person you’d talk to in the morning.”

Hamilton had been a Kentucky assistant under Joe B. Hall, helping the Wildcats win the 1978 NCAA title, and Eddie Sutton for one season. At Oklahoma State, he took over a program that had posted 13 losing seasons in the 16 years since legendary Hank Iba retired.

The program required an infusion of talent. The staff recruited, and Hamilton closed the deals on, such future NBA players in John Starks, Richard Dumas, Byron Houston and Corey Williams.

“He amazed me,” Self said. “He was non-stop on the phone with contacts and showed me all that goes into recruiting and building relationships.”

Hamilton’s Oklahoma State teams with Self on the bench went 8-20, 14-16, 17-13 and 17-14, with the final two reaching the NIT. Hamilton then took the Miami job and the Cowboys reached the NCAA Tournament the next year under Sutton.

“Leonard Hamilton set the table for what followed at Oklahoma State,” Self said.

Self spent two more seasons in Stillwater before starting an amazing head coaching career that took him to Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois before Kansas. He entered the hall of fame five years ago, and Hamilton saw it coming.

“That first year I gave Bill a lot of responsibilities, and he did everything well,” Hamilton said. “He was destined to become a great coach.”

Mentors to Gates

One of Gates’ first steps on his own career path came during summers in college.

A guard for California, he worked at the Michael Jordan Flight School in Santa Barbara, Calif., a youth camp operated by former USC coach George Raveling. Gates was assigned as a counselor to kids age 9-11.

“I was serious about the counselor role, helping and caring for the kids,” Gates said.

Working the Jordan camp was dream come true for Gates, a Chicago native who grew up watching the Bulls dominate the NBA while attending Whitney Young High School. His coaching career essentially started at Flight School.

There, Gates met Raveling, a coaching pioneer who was the first Black assistant coach in the ACC (at Maryland) and first Black head coach in the Pac-8 (Washington State).

“I want to be just like you,” Gates told Raveling. “How can I do that?”

Happily for Gates, Raveling and Hamilton were friends. “Like a brother to me,” Hamilton said.

Both became mentors to the young Gates. The first opportunity for Gates to work for Hamilton arrived in 2004 as a graduate assistant at Florida State. Gates had spent the previous year, his first in coaching, at Marquette, but jumped at the chance to work for Hamilton.

“I needed to see how it was done from the perspective of Leonard Hamilton,” Gates said. “I was a young, Black coach needing guidance and wanted to see how a program was run from that perspective.

“Went to Tallahassee sight unseen. Bought a car and drove down.”

After one year at Florida State, Gates started his career as a full-time coach. He worked on the staffs at Cal, Northern Illinois and Nevada before returning to Tallahassee in 2011. There, he helped create one of the most successful periods in Florida State history.

Among the achievements of the Hamilton staff that included Gates and current Mizzou assistant Charlton “C.Y.” Young were four straight top-20 recruiting classes and an ACC regular-season and tournament championship.

“As an assistant, he had a knack for communicating with players, and he was a detailed guy,” Hamilton said. “Also, there’s a calmness about him. The more emotional a game gets, the calmer he tends to be.”

After eight years in Tallahassee, Gates was ready to become a head coach. With Hamilton’s blessing, he took over the Cleveland State program in 2019. After three seasons and a 50-40 record, it was off to Missouri, where Gates has put together a team largely comprised of transfers and has them playing well together.

The bond between Gates and Hamilton remains as tight as ever. Hamilton watched probably the Tigers’ most significant win to date, at Wichita State two weeks ago. He and Gates talked about it later, as they do for many games.

“To be on a coaching tree,” Gates said, “someone has to give you a branch

Hamilton provided that to both Border War coaches.