Pitt's Jeff Capel looks up to Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton — before trying to beat him

When Felton J. Capel II was coaching Old Dominion in the 1990s, he and his wife often spoke admiringly about a coach they often met at Nike conventions. Their son, who grew up to be Pitt coach Jeff Capel, listened intently to those conversations.

The man’s name is Leonard Hamilton, and the younger Capel will shake his hand Wednesday night inside Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla. Then, he’ll try to lead his Pitt team to a victory against Hamilton’s Florida State Seminoles.

“There weren’t many Black coaches at the Division-I level (at the time). He was one,” Capel said Monday on the ACC coaches’ conference call, referring to Hamilton. “Someone I have great admiration for, someone I look up to in this profession. All the young Black coaches, we all look up to him.”

Hamilton, 76, started his coaching career at Oklahoma State in 1986 before moving to Miami for 10 seasons. Washington Wizards director of basketball operations Michael Jordan hired Hamilton for one season (2000-01).

That didn’t work out — the Wizards were 19-63 — but Hamilton was back in college in 2002, coaching Florida State.

And he has never left.

Not even now, when so many college coaches are leaving campuses after becoming disenchanted with new rules in which players can be paid and transfer on a whim.

Hamilton, though, refused to be counted among those coaches.

“You’re hired to do a job, and you want to do it the best you can each and every day,” said Hamilton, who has compiled a 454-286 record with the Seminoles (654-496 overall).

“I try not to allow myself to complain. I just want to make the adjustment and keep on moving. Someone is going to get the job done, and I want to be one of those guys. I love what I do. I’m not the guy who makes knee-jerk reactions to things. I’m moving on and not allowing myself to be distracted by all the changes and differences we are facing in this new era of college athletics.”

Hamilton lost a prominent player after the 2023-24 season when Cam Corhen transferred from Florida State to Pitt. He didn’t want to lose Corhen, who started 33 games and scored 528 points in two seasons, but he respected him enough not to coax him into staying in Tallahassee.

“I don’t ever try to talk kids into doing anything they don’t feel is best for them,” Hamilton said. “I believe that kids have the right to utilize the new rules that govern college basketball. I handle it as such.”

Was he surprised that Corhen decided to leave?

“I’m not surprised by anything that happens in college basketball with all the new rules,” he said. “Why should I be surprised when 4,000 kids put themselves in the portal? That’s more the normal. I have 10 new players on my team. That’s the new formula that we have in college sports. You have to adjust and move on.”

Dealing with multiple new faces ever year is a challenge, but Hamilton does not run from it.

“The challenge is, as a coach, to change your teaching methods because you don’t make progress at the same rate when you have six or seven guys returning,” he said. “You have to change, be more thorough, maybe not go as fast when you’re implementing offensive and defensive philosophies.

“You have to be a little more patient and understand you have guys who’ve been successful in other places doing it another way. They have to almost unlearn and make an adjustment to playing the way you want to play.”

Corhen has become a big part of Pitt’s quest to advance its program, leading the team in rebounding (5.8) and averaging 10.9 points per game. In the past two games (losses to Duke and Louisville), Capel has been reluctant to take Corhen off the floor. He has played 73 of a possible 80 minutes, scoring 22 points with 12 rebounds.

“Corhen is an extremely hard worker,” Hamilton said. “He’s very focused, and you can expect him to give you good effort every time he shows up.”