Was Leonard Hamilton's contract extension and raise a result of a better financial outlook for FSU? The timing might suggest that.
Recall he was said to be receiving a raise after his team was 2012 ACC champions and went to the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year. And then there was a report that red ink had crept into the athletic department's finances that put off that raise for Hamilton and his staff.
That situation has since changed when the ACC dispersed additional monies to league members. But also recall that was some time ago when that announcement was made, calming to some degree a vocal contingent calling for Florida State to depart the ACC for financially greener pastures.
So if that was a little settling to FSU's bottom line, why take this much time to get it done with Hamilton?
I look at Randy Spetman for that. He just dropped the ball on this one as seems to have been the case with various aspects of the job he oversaw. It could have been done much sooner.
But for whatever reasons, Spetman was somewhat disinterested in the men's basketball program. You saw him frequently at games early on during his tenure as AD. That decreased more and more as time went on, and he was conspicuously absent at season-end banquets the last few years. There were rumors as well that Spetman was ignoring various requests from the program.
Did the delay cause Hamilton to think about leaving FSU? Hamilton never talks about such matters and is adept at not giving subtle clues. But I highly doubt he was looking elsewhere for several reasons.
Continue reading "Leonard's Loot: Bill from Tampa on what's behind Hamilton's raise" »
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