We have a football coach now that we hope will be on this list one day, but he hasn't coached a day for FSU so far. The early returns are good. While we have had a few great football coaches, we've had some excellent coaches in some other sports too. This list is going to be an outstanding reflection of a fantastic athletic program.
FSU's coaches in all sports will be evaluated over their entire body of work. Doing that, the 10 that have had the greatest success will be included on this list. Only that individuals contribution to Florida State University will be considered. What did that coach do for this great university?
Here is the list of the 10 greatest coaches in Florida State Seminole history!
10. Odell Haggins
1994-Present
4-2 Record as Head Coach (.667 Winning Percentage)
Odelll Haggins twice took over a broken team at FSU and united those teams to lead them to bowl games. He extended FSU's legendary bowl streak and then reestablished a new bowl streak this past season. This list is mostly made up of head coaches and Odell has only coached 6 games, so his inclusion may seem like a stretch to some. Repairing the damage left by Jimbo Fisher and Willie Taggart respectively was no easy task. Add in that he is everything right with FSU and has been one of the best position coaches in the country since 1994, and I had to include Odell on the list. Jimbo Fisher won a national championship at FSU and he won 29 games in a row, but he also completely wrecked the program and is the biggest reason the program is in the hole it is now. The biggest reason why it didn't get even worse than this is Odell. He will also be the biggest reason we will eventually come out of it. Odell belongs on the list.
9. Cecile Reynaud
1976-2001
635-326 Record as head coach (.661 Winning Percentage)
Reynaud is a living legend that helped put FSU women athletics on the map. Her success was perhaps best felt inside the classroom as Reynaud had all but two of her athletes graduate during her 26 year tenure. On the volleyball court, Reynaud led the Seminoles to 7 conference titles and 10 postseason appearances. The two-time ACC coach of the year is recognized nationally as one of the absolute best volleyball minds out there. She published several books and made DVDs about coaching the sport.
8. Leonard Hamilton
2002-Present
379-221 (.632 Winning Percentage)
Hamilton has gotten better with age and has managed to turn the football school at Florida State into a basketball powerhouse. It is really crazy to consider that FSU just won the ACC in a league with perennial powerhouses Duke and North Carolina. Hamilton won the ACC Tournament way back in 2012 too, its not just now. The 3x ACC Coach of the Year is someone that I was tempted to put much higher on this list. This team was Hamilton's best and I will forever believe that they would have won a national championship if the tournament was not cancelled due to Covid-19. Hamilton has figured out a recipe for success at Florida State and the program keeps getting better.
7. Sue Semrau
1997-Present
475-269 (.649 Winning Precentage)
FSU's longest tenured coach at the moment is no stranger to success herself. She is the all-time winningest coach in the history of the women's basketball program. Semrau has captured 2 ACC titles and is a 3x ACC Coach of the Year. FSU never reached the sweet 16 before Coach Sue came, and she has helped the Seminoles reach the Sweet 16 5 times. Three of those trips, included trips to the Elite 8. FSU had a really good chance to advance that far again, but Covid-19 strikes again. FSU Women's Basketball is in great hands with Coach Sue.
6. Lonni Alameda
2009-Present
555-167-1 (.768 Winning Percentage)
Alameda has brought tremendous success to the FSU softball program. The obvious feather in the cap for Alameda is the 2018 Women's College World Series championship. However, there is a lot more to the resume of the 5x ACC Coach of the Year. Florida State has won 6 ACC regular season titles, and 7 ACC tournament titles during her tenure at FSU. Each season that Alameda has coached at FSU, the team has competed in postseason play and during 3 of those seasons, the team advanced all the way to the Women's College World Series.
5. Mark Krikorian
2005-Present
276-66-30 (.782 Winning Percentage)
Krikorian his FSU's 4th longest tenured current coach. He has a really good claim to being at the top of the list. FSU has won 2 national championships during Krikorian's tenure and he has won 78% of games in which he has coached. His success at FSU has been so incredible that the Seminoles have advanced to the NCAA Tournament every year of his tenure. Not just that, but FSU has made the Quarterfinals in all but two of those seasons. During 8 of those seasons or half of his tenure, Kirkorian has taken the Seminoles to the College Cup. It is beyond incredible that he has had FSU as one of the last 4 teams in half of his seasons as head coach.
4. JoAnne Graf
1979-2008
1,437-478-6 (.748 Winning Percentage)
The Seminole softball field is named after JoAnne Graf, which should tell you a lot about the former coach. At the time of her retirement, Graf had more wins than any other coach in the history of D1 softball. Graf led the Seminoles to 17 NCAA Tournaments and 10 ACC Championships. She also led the Seminoles to 7 College World Series Games and two National Championships. Those National championships were in 1981 and 1982. The craziest thing about Graf's story is those 1981 and 1982 championships were AIAW championships (now NCAA) and were for slow pitch softball. Graf crafted a dominant team in slow pitch softball and navigated the change to fast pitch softball while keeping the Seminoles dominant. She would keep them so dominant that they would win 6 straight ACC championships from 1995-2000. JoAnne Graf is a true Seminoles legend.
3. Bob Braman
2004-Present
Braman is another long tenured coach for Florida State. Judging purely by national championships, Braman has been the most successful at FSU. His Seminoles three peated from 2006-2008. Of course the 2007 title was vacated due to the cheating scandal, but the NCAA came down way too hard on FSU and the track athletes involved in that were walk-ons that didn't contribute to the national title. The NCAA might only currently recognize two of Braman's titles, but he certainly won 3. Braman coaches two sports at FSU, cross country and track, and the Seminoles are very good at both. The cross country team advanced to 13 NCAA Championships in a 16 year period. FSU received the John McDonnell Award for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons for having the highest average finish for cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Braman has 22 ACC Championships in Men's track already. He also has helped FSU to two ACC Triple Crowns (winning cross country, indoor, and outdoor in the same school year) on the women's side. Prior, to Braman's arrival, FSU never finished higher than 7th in Cross Country in the ACC. He came and delivered a balanced program that is a national powerhouse.
2. Mike Martin
1980-2019
2,029-736-4 (.734 Winning Percentage)
Martin is the first 2,000 game winner in NCAA history in any sport. He has the most wins of any coach in any sport! How can he not be near the top with that stat? How is he not #1 honestly? The big knock against Martin is that he never won the NCAA championship, but he has done so much for the university. FSU's baseball field is named after the legendary coach for one. I already mentioned his legendary win total. Martin also appeared in 41 consecutive NCAA Tournaments under Martin. FSU not only had winning teams under Martin, but they went to the postseason for that many seasons in a row. Incredible. Martin has 13 regular season conference titles and 19 tournament titles. Florida State made 17 College World Series appearances under Martin and were the national runner-up twice. Martin advanced to the Super Regionals 27 times. 27 seasons as a top 16 team is incredible no matter how you want to act like it isn't.
1. Bobby Bowden
1976-2009
304-97-4 (.758 Winning Percentage)
Bowden is the greatest coach in college football history. He was at one point the winningest football coach in history. For some reason though, the NCAA restored Paterno's wins and not his. None of that matters though, what matters is that Bobby Bowden was an absolute force for a team that never had football success prior to his arrival. Bowden had 33 straight winning seasons at Florida State and established a winning season streak that started in 1977 and did not end until 2018 (thanks Willie Taggart). Florida State finished in the top 4 every year from 1987-2000. That 14 year stretch of dominance is really what separates Bowden from the rest of the college football coaching field. It is an amazing stretch of excellence. Can you imagine if the college football playoff existed then? FSU would have far more than 2 national championships if that was the case. Those 2 national championships are why Bowden finished ahead of Martin. What an excellent group of coaches this university has produced, led by the great Bobby Bowden.- Noland
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