Hamilton's Discipline Motivates Miami
March 21, 2000
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Miami coach Leonard Hamilton tugs at his blackdress pants, showing how loose they are on his 200-pound frame. His belt isbuckled on the last hole.
Hamilton is 20 pounds lighter now than when the season began. Each October,Hamilton begins a diet of fruits, vegetables, juices and broiled, baked orgrilled fish, turkey and chicken.
No pasta. No red meat. Not even a slice of bread, a glass of milk or a pieceof candy.
The diet isn’t about losing weight, though.
It’s about discipline.
The trait comes from his father, and Hamilton tries to pass it on to hisplayers. It’s one reason the Hurricanes (23-10), seeded sixth in the EastRegional, are in the third round of the NCAA tournament and will playseventh-seeded Tulsa (31-4) on Friday.
“To deny yourself of certain things that you really enjoy, it helps youstay focused,” Hamilton said.
The 51-year-old coach, in his 10th season with Miami, teaches his players todo the same.
They are not allowed to wear hats indoors. They are not allowed to listen toheadphones on team buses or planes. They have a strict dress code for teamevents. And they are never allowed to be late.
In fact, they are required to be 15 minutes early. If tardy, they get a”love session” with the conditioning coach, who makes them run, bike and runsome more.
“That’s the worst thing you could do,” center Dwayne Wimbley said.”That’s why I’m never late.”
The players have embraced Hamilton’s ways – even leading scorer JohnnyHemsley, who has been suspended twice this season for violating team rules.They know Hamilton is doing more than teaching them to be better basketballplayers. He wants them to be better people.
“He’s like a father,” senior guard Vernon Jennings said. “He’s raised ussince we were young. It’s not normal for a coach, but I understand that’s coachHamilton’s nature. He cares about our well being and how we become men.”
Hamilton’s philosophy stems from his father, “Big” John Hamilton, who diedlast fall after a long bout with cancer and diabetes.
Leonard Hamilton can tell countless stories about how tough it was to be BigJohn’s son. Talk about discipline.
He remembers running as fast as he could to get inside the house before thestreetlight came on. If the streetlight came on and you were not inside, youwere late. That was the rule, and Hamilton broke it.
“I hit the porch and the light came on. I was a second too late and I wasdisciplined,” he said. “That was one of the worst whuppins I had.”
There was another time when Hamilton and his brothers were supposed to cutthe grass. They didn’t, and when Big John came home at midnight, he got themout of bed and put them to work.
They didn’t finish until about 4 a.m.
“We’re who we are as a result of what we are taught,” Hamilton said.”Those are things that my father taught me. He always said to work twice ashard as the competition and never not give 100 percent. I’ve always foundmyself in every situation wanting to work hard.
“You have to want it more and being willing to give more effort to get it.That’s the only way I know.”
And that is the only thing the Hurricanes have seen for the last decade.
“If you follow coach Hamilton when he was growing up, you can see that he’sovercome a lot,” forward Elton Tyler said. “He’s had a lot of disciplinethroughout his years, so it can’t be that hard for us to try to do it.”
Hamilton began coaching as a graduate assistant at Austin Peay in 1971. Hetook an assistant job at Kentucky in 1974 and became the associate head coachthere in 1980.
He got his first head coaching job at Oklahoma State six years later, joinedon the staff by current Tulsa coach Bill Self. Hamilton spent four years withthe Cowboys before coming to Miami in 1990.
Hamilton has taken the Hurricanes to a school-record three consecutive NCAAtournaments. It is a remarkable task considering he has done it with littletalent and even less support.
In 10 years at Miami, Hamilton has had one player in the NBA (rookie TimJames of the Miami Heat), two players drafted (James and Constantin Popa) andfour All Big East-Conference selections (James, Popa, Hemsley and Mario Bland).
Hamilton continues to recruit players to Miami, where there is no arena, notradition, little media coverage and a small fan base. He has become one of thehottest coaching names in the country.
Georgia Tech wants to talk to Hamilton about succeeding Bobby Cremins. ButHamilton said he isn’t even addressing the situation until the season – and hisdiet – are over.
“I enjoy doing what I do,” Hamilton said. “I enjoy my relationship withmy players. The strength of the pack is in the wolf and the strength of thewolf is in the pack. That’s our philosophy.”
