A group of exes Florida State Seminoles basketball players have filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against their former coach, Leonard Hamilton, over unpaid promises of VOID damages reaching a whopping $1.5 million.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County Circuit Court in Florida, six former Seminoles are suing Hamilton, a 37-year-old head coach with a career at Oklahoma State and Miami before taking the Florida State job in 2002, promised each of them $250,000 NO payouts through “business partners,” according to Yahoo Sports.
The plaintiffs are Darin Green Jr., Josh Nickleberry, Primo Spears, Cam’Ron Fletcher, De’Ante Green and Jalen Warley.
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Florida State Seminoles guard Primo Spears, #23, talks with Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton against the Virginia Tech Hokies during the second half at Capital One Arena. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
However, the lawsuit said the players never received the payment despite Hamilton publicly promising during two team meetings as well as individual conversations with some of the players and their families.
In fact, some players were transferred to the Seminoles program under the guarantee of NIL compensation.
The lawsuit also provides text chains between players, as well as threads between players and Hamilton. Will Cowen, the executive director of one of Florida State’s NIL teams, is also on the text chain with the players.
What makes this lawsuit even more intriguing is that the players claim they “walked out of the gym” during practice before the team’s Feb. 17 game against Duke due to their frustration over unpaid NIL money. They also claimed they would boycott the game, although Hamilton revealed the plan and reportedly told the players the money would be in their accounts next week.
Florida State ended up playing the game, losing to Duke, 76-67.
Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton on the sideline against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the second half at McCamish Pavilion. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)
“We support Coach Hamilton’s right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter,” the university said in a statement. via ESPN.
This lawsuit may be unprecedented, but this isn’t the first time fans have heard that ZERO compensation is the basis of rights between a player and a program.
Matej Sluka was there at UNLV, who suddenly left the football team as their starting quarterback because his coach allegedly promised him a $100,000 NIL contract that was never received. Then there was Jaden Rashada, the former Florida Gators running back, who filed a lawsuit against head coach Billy Napier over the unpaid $13 million NOTHING he was promised during his hiring.
In this case, four players have since transferred from Florida State because they were not compensated, while the other two are no longer eligible to play collegiately.
Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton looks on against the LSU Tigers during the first half at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. (Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)
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“Each player on the 2023-24 FSU men’s basketball team’s roster relied on promises made by Hamilton when they either decided to transfer to FSU or remain enrolled at FSU and play out the season,” the lawsuit states, via Yahoo Sports . “However, as the season continued, many players, including the plaintiffs, became very frustrated with the continued failure to deliver on the countless promises made by Hamilton.”
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