TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WALB) - Florida State has hired former player and two-time NBA champion Luke Loucks as its men’s basketball head coach, FSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford announced Sunday.
“I’m excited to announce that Luke Loucks has accepted our offer to become the next head men’s basketball coach at Florida State,” Alford said. “Luke will bring a unique combination of qualities to our program, and I’m excited to begin the next chapter of our basketball history under his leadership. Throughout basketball at both the professional and collegiate levels, Luke has earned a reputation as one of the rising stars in coaching. Having been a key part of some of the best of what FSU basketball has been as a player, he also brings proven ability to develop players at the highest level of the sport.”
“I am thrilled to welcome Luke Loucks back to Florida State University as our next head men’s basketball coach,” Florida State President Richard McCullough said. “Luke’s exceptional coaching ability, profound leadership skills, and extensive basketball knowledge make him the perfect fit to lead our program. As a former Seminole, he understands the values and traditions that define FSU basketball. I am confident that under his guidance, Florida State will continue to achieve great success and uphold the proud legacy of Seminole basketball. Welcome home, Coach Loucks!”
According to the release, Loucks brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in professional, collegiate, and international basketball. He specializes in on-court instruction and player development and most recently served as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings after spending time on staff with the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
“I am incredibly honored and excited for the opportunity to become the head coach for the Florida State men’s basketball team,” Loucks said. “FSU has a rich basketball tradition, and I look forward to building on the legacy of our previous coaches, especially Coach Hamilton. I’d like to thank the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors for providing me with a strong coaching foundation. I’m eager to build our coaching staff with the best and brightest basketball coaches in America. They will have characteristics that support and push me while helping me build and develop a competitive team year after year. We will have a standard that we stick to on and off the court that will help build a championship-level culture. I am privileged to have seen firsthand what winning feels like at Florida State, and I am hungry for more.”
His time in the NBA included working with perennial All-Stars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Zach Lavine. During Loucks’ time in Golden State, Durant was twice named NBA Finals MVP and was also a first-team All-NBA selection. Curry earned first-team All-NBA honors three times with Loucks on staff, and Green was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2017.
“Our staff will recruit and fill our roster with competitive, high-IQ and highly skilled players with professional basketball aspirations,” Loucks said. “Our job is to mold those individuals into a cohesive unit that understands our vision and the way we want to play. My wife and three children are thrilled to move back home to Florida, where our families live and community ties are strong. We can’t wait to build something special in Tallahassee.”
Before returning to Tallahassee to lead Florida State, Loucks spent the three previous seasons as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings. He was Sacramento’s defensive coordinator in 2024-25, helping the Kings to their best defensive showing in 20 seasons. In his first two seasons, he worked with the Kings’ offense. The 2022-23 team broke the NBA’s single-season offensive efficiency rating with a mark of 119.4, which was a full point better than the previous record.
“I’m very excited about the future of our men’s basketball program, and also very pleased that this new era will represent a bridge to a successful past with a path to an even brighter future,” Alford said. “I’m also excited that Luke and his wife, Stevi, both intimately understand the experience of being an FSU student-athlete. They understand what a special place this is, and I’m extremely grateful for their desire to want to be part of it again.”
In 2022-23, his first season with the Kings, the team posted a 48-34 record, the franchise’s most wins since 2004-05, and made the Playoffs for the first time since 2005-06. The next year, he helped the Kings produce 46 wins for the franchise’s best two-year stretch since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. He also coached the Nigerian National Team, helping Nigeria defeat Team USA in a pre-Olympics exhibition game and then rank first among all countries with an average of 11.0 steals per game at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Loucks helped lead FSU to the NCAA Tournament in all four of his seasons as a player, the first time in program history the Seminoles advanced to the NCAA Tournament in four consecutive years. He was named to the All-ACC Tournament Team in 2012 after leading Florida State to the program’s first ACC Tournament title.
In the ACC Championship Game victory over top-seed and No. 4-ranked North Carolina, Loucks tied the program record for most assists in a game against an ACC opponent with 13. His 136 career games played are No. 4 on FSU’s all-time list, and he still ranks 10th in program history with 391 career assists. After his FSU playing career, Loucks played three seasons in Europe and one year in the NBA Development League.
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