Florida State hires two former head coaches with FSU connections to basketball staff
Florida State is entering a new era with its men’s basketball program, as Leonard Hamilton has resigned after 23 years at the helm, making way for former ACC Champion Luke Loucks to step in. He doesn’t have much time to fill out his staff and evaluate the roster before the transfer portal opens on March 24th, though some players are already announcing their intentions to enter, and some can enter if their coaches have been fired.
It was said that Loucks was working to build his staff before he ever formally accepted the job, and he’s now added two assistants to his new staff, according to a press conference on Thursday.
Florida State has announced the hiring of assistant coaches Michael Fly and Gerald Gillion. Both have head coaching experience with FSU ties, something Loucks seemed to be prioritizing.
Fly was FSU’s video coordinator for Loucks’ first three seasons as a player in Tallahassee before Fly followed Andy Enfield to Florida Gulf Coast. Fly stayed as an assistant at FGCU once Enfield left for USC and eventually took over as head coach there, going 56-60 in his four years there. His last season at FGCU was his best, as the team went 22-12.
After his time at FGCU, Fly joined Dennis Gates at Missouri as the Director of Scouting and Analytics for the 2022-23 season, Gates’ first season as a major head coach, and the team had a superb 25-10 record. That tenure will be helpful for Fly and FSU, as that Mizzou squad was built with quality transfers. Fly has most recently been the Associate Head Coach for Jacksonville University, with the Dolphins going 19-13 this season and finishing 4th in the Atlantic Sun.
If you’re looking for a possible transfer who could follow Fly, guard Robert McCray V started his career at Wake Forest before transferring to JU, becoming a two-time All-ASun selection, including as a First Team selection this season with 16.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 4.5 APG with 43.3/33.1/77.3 shooting splits as a 6’4″ guard. He has a year of eligibility remaining.
Gerald Gillion graduated from Florida State in 2008 and then became the head coach at Northeast High School in Oakland Parks, Florida. After five seasons there, he joined Florida International as Director of Basketball Operations for a season and then started to bounce around as an assistant coach: three seasons at USF, two seasons at Tennessee Tech, and one season at Samford in Bucky McMillan’s first season there.
After those stints as an assistant, Gillion became the head coach at Chicago State, arguably the toughest head coaching job in college basketball. They improved in each of his three seasons there, as Gillion finished with a career record of 31-64. The team went 13-19 in Gillion’s final season, tied for Chicago State’s best overall record in the last 16 seasons. He resigned following the 2023-24 season and joined Rod Strickland’s staff as the Associate Head Coach at Long Island University. The Sharks went 17-16 overall but finished 2nd in the Northeast Conference. Unless their two Canadian stars receive extra eligibility, they don’t have any possible ACC-caliber players who could follow Gillion.
Loucks can continue to add to his staff with at least one more assistant coach, and it’s been said he’d like to hire a general manager, too, a long overdue need. Some of the better programs in the country have player development coaches, Scouting Directors, and more, so it’ll be interesting to see how the staff changes over the coming days and weeks.
