Ten Best Coaches In Florida State History

The Florida State Seminoles have a long history of having outstanding coaches. At one point the Seminoles have had the winningest coach ever in football and baseball. The university has several others that have won national championships. So who are the best Seminole coaches of all-time?

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

State of Florida State Athletics

Florida State University Athletics has built itself into one of the finest athletic departments in the entire country. The university boasts several elite teams that compete for national championships. Each of the programs at the school is nationally relevant, and here it is determined just how relevant each program is. I will go program by program, analyze the season and talk about the future of that sport at Florida State. Before we begin, it is just important to acknowledge that the future is bright for the Seminoles. So let's begin the look into Florida State Athletics....

Baseball
FSU baseball enjoyed an up and down year that would be considered a success for most schools. Florida State is not most schools though. At this point, FSU fans expect championships. They expect at least an ACC title, and really want a national championship. That being said, most fans are proud of this young squad. The Noles made it to the ACC Championship game and battled back to make it a game despite being blown out by rival Clemson. Florida State won the regional and nearly knocked the hated Gators out in the Super Regional. Runner-up in the ACC Tournament and being knocked out in the Super Regional by the #1 team in the country is not a bad year. It just stings more because of the teams that beat the Seminoles this year.
All of that said, FSU is bringing back a lot of firepower in 2017 and should be one of the favorites in all of college baseball. The Noles return their offensive core of Dylan Busby, Cal Raleigh, Jackson Lueck, and Taylor Walls. They also return all three starters from the UF series. Add in the veterans and recruits and this is a scary good team. Drew Mendoza, was expected to be drafted, but is instead coming to Florida State as well. Gotta love a guy that turns down millions to become a Nole! The lineup will be scary good, and all 3 starting pitchers from the Super Regional are coming back! John Sansone and Mike Compton are the only regulars that FSU is losing in 2017. Things are looking up for the Seminoles in 2017!
This could be 11's best shot yet to win a title. Many don't want to see Martin coach next year, but personally I do. I really want Martin to win that elusive title. This past season was Martin's 39th consecutive (every season at FSU) 40 win season. That is an absolutely incredible feat, that should continue the next two years. Martin has signed a contract extension through 2018.

Basketball (Men's)
If the baseball team was up and down, then I have no words for the basketball team. It has reached its ceiling under Leonard Hamilton in my opinion and the teams don't even have the defensive qualities that used to be the trademark of Hamilton teams anymore. If he is not leading an incredible defensive squad, then Leonard Hamilton is useless as a basketball coach other than recruiting. His top recruiting class all went pro with XRM after a disappointing season too so.....
Hamilton may have dodged a bullet as Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan Mayes decided to return to school after testing the NBA waters during the pre-draft process. Those two returning give the Seminoles a shot at making the NCAA Tournament. Miss that tournament and the calls for Hamilton's job will become deafening.

Basketball (Women's)
The women's basketball team has raised itself to the upper echelon in the ACC and become far more successful than the men. Head Coach Sue Semrau has built quite the program down here at Florida State. Her career record at Florida State is 337-225 for a winning percentage of 62.4%. Semrau has led the Noles to NCAA appearances in 10 of the last 11 seasons including a Sweet Sixteen appearance this past season. She was even named coach of the year in 2015.
It is obvious to see that Semrau has done a fantastic job leading the Noles recently, but how does that relate to any future success?
A 15-1 home record last year shows that the Seminoles have become very strong at defending their home court. The lone loss was to an elite Notre Dame squad and it was one of only 3 ACC losses. Those facts make it seem clear that the Seminoles will remain near the top of the ACC and remain a nationally elite program. The NCAA appearances in 10 of 11 seasons dont hurt and neither does Coach Sue. Add in the majority of the roster returning and the future is looking bright for the Seminoles Basketball on the Womens side.
Beach Volleyball
The Florida State Beach Volleyball team has been a national championship contender since the sport was added by the NCAA. This season was the 1st that sand volleyball was a full-fledged NCAA sport though. This May, FSU made it all the way back to the National Championship, before falling to Southern Cal. That loss was only the Seminoles 3rd loss on the entire season. Their 2nd loss was at the end of the winners bracket for that tournament, also to Southern Cal. Making it all the way to the finals is quite the accomplishment. The Seminoles will look to build on that for their next season.
Retaining their coach will certainly help in that crusade for a championship. 1st year coach Brooke Niles was so successful that she was recognized as the AVCA National Coach of the Year. Niles is married to FSU alum Nick Lucena who will represent Team USA in Rio (more on him on another day). Unfortunately for the Seminoles, their top duo of Julie Brown and Jace Pardon will no longer be with the team due to graduation. Next year, the Seminoles will have to find a new top team. 

Cross Country (Men's)
The Seminoles men's cross country team is led by head track and field coach Bob Braman. This guy is arguably the best coach out of all of FSU athletics. It is hard to argue with his 3 National Championships in track. Heading into the 2015 season, Braman had made 11 NCAA Championship meet appearances with the Seminoles. Prior to him being hired, the Seminoles made only 1 title appearance.
This past season the Seminoles again made a championship appearance, but only finished 29th. That result though was an improvement over where they were in 2014. FSU's top runner was a junior in 2015, so he will look to help the Noles finish much higher in the 2016 season. Florida State was able to win the regional title for the 2015 season and will look to repeat that in 2016.

Cross Country (Women's)
The Seminoles women's track team is led by Kelly Phillips. Phillips was in her 1st year at FSU this past season. FSU finished 4th in the region on the women's side and failed to make the NCAA Championship. With an incredibly young team this past season, it is almost guaranteed that FSU will improve on that finish and make the championship in 2016.
Football
Let's be honest, it took a long time for me to get to the sport that everyone cares about for Florida State athletics. I care about every sport though and wanted to do them in alphabetical order. That being said...
FSU football is a national power. The Seminoles have been nationally relevant since my birth and enjoyed numerous top 5 finishes and 3 national championships in that time. This team has been a football juggernaut. From 1987 to 2000 the team finished in the Top 5 an incredible 14 consecutive years. More recently, the Noles won 29 straight games from 2012-Jan 2015 and had back to back undefeated regular seasons in 2013 and 2014. All of this is not to mention a modern day draft record for most players selected from one school in a 3 year period. The Seminoles have had an incredible run.
Last year that run slowed a bit as the Seminoles finished 10-3. This record during a rebuilding year following all those draft picks came with its ups and downs. Among the ups were going wire to wire with national runner-up Clemson @ Clemson in a game the Seminoles easily could have won and dominating in state rival Florida. The downs were losses to lowly Georgia Tech and the bowl loss to Houston. Although the bowl loss was largely due to injuries at Quarterback and Tailback. The offense was carried (no pun intended) by runningback Dalvin Cook for the entire season. He dominated on the field despite a lingering hamstring issue all season. Cook broke the school single season rushing record during that incredible stretch and finished with 1691 for the season. The incredible playmaker returns for the Seminoles for the 2016-2017 season.

With Cook and the rest of the offense returning (Golson was the offensive player on the 2 deep that was a senior last season) the Seminoles are a playoff favorite for a lot of people this upcoming season. There are quite a few outlets that have the Seminoles winning the national championship this upcoming season. Many have Dalvin Cook and Derwin James as the top returning offensive and defensive players respectively. The Seminoles are loaded with talent and still coached by Jimbo Fisher. Fisher has won 83% of the games that he has coached. These are the Florida State Seminoles and they will be in the national championship picture.

Golf (Men's)
The FSU Golf team made tremendous strides this season and is officially nationally relevant. FSU spent nearly the entire year ranked in the Top 20 and ended up finishing 19th at the NCAA Championships. The team finished one stroke out of the top 15 cutline in that 19th place finish. Head Coach Trey Jones is encouraged by that finish and the underclassmen returning. The Noles look to improve in 2016.

Golf (Women's)
FSU's women did even better than the men in golf. The team finished 15th at the NCAA Championships. That finish included a 2nd place finish in the NCAA Shoal Creek Regional to qualify for the NCAA finals. Coach Amy Bond has led the Seminoles to 6 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances. Those appearances bring the total current streak to 11 consecutive appearances (a school record). The Seminoles will look to make it 12 next year and perhaps bring home an NCAA title.

Soccer
The FSU Soccer team had the most successful 2014 of any Seminole team. They are arguably the best team on campus and were looking to defend that National Championship in 2015. FSU finished play in 2015 with a loss in the College Cup seminfinals. While the Noles failed to repeat in 2015, it is rare that a team can make the final 4 in their sport multiple years in a row. The past three years, FSU finished with a 2nd place finish, a championship, and a 3rd place finish. Most teams would kill for those results. However, this program has become so strong that it expects to win a national championship each season. There is no doubt that the Seminoles will be in the thick of it. Coach Mark Krikorian has built the Seminoles into a machine that competes year in and year out for championships. Despite 3 top ten selections in the past draft, the Seminoles will likely be a major factor again for 2016.

Softball
The Seminoles set a school record 459 runs this season on the way to advancing again to the Women's College World Series. It was there that the Seminoles advanced to the WCWS semifinals and were a series threat to win it all. Auburn was actually able to knock off the Noles in softball, which is quite different than the results in other sports. Head Coach Lonni Alameda has been ACC Coach of the Year for the past 4 seasons in leading the Seminoles to this unprecedented level of success. Almeda has led the Noles to 4 straight ACC regular season titles and 3 straight tournament titles. FSU has advanced to the WCWS in 2014 and 2016. The Seminoles return a stacked team for 2017 including superstar Jessica Warren among others.

Swimming and Diving (Men's and Women's)

Frank Bradley led the Seminoles during the 2015-2016 season which is still technically going on as some former and current Seminoles look to qualify for the Olympics. However, there is no coach listed for the 2016-2017 season. One coach that does return though is diving coach John Proctor. Proctor was able to lead Dylan Grisell to a 7th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Grisell was the 1st All-American in that event in school history. Unfortunately, he will be leaving FSU as a graduated senior. There are multiple questions heading into the 2016-2017 season, but the number one question has to be who will take over duties as the swimming coach.

Tennis (Men's)
The Seminoles male tennis team was able to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It was during the second round that seniors Lock and Nunez fell and were eliminated from the tournament. Coach Dwayne Hultquist will look to have even more success with a new duo in 2017. The Seminoles were able to knock off a #1 team for the 1st time in school history in 2016. That success leaves reason for optimism despite FSU losing some seniors.

Tennis (Women's)
The lady Seminoles did not do quite as well as the mens team finishing ranked 63rd in the country. They also lose their top player from the past four seasons in Daneika Borthwick. She was able to reach the NCAA individual championships in her final season. There is still reason for optimism though as FSU returns their all-time winningest female tennis coach in Jennifer Hyde.

Track and Field (Men's)
Entering this season, FSU had finished 4th or better at the NCAAs 7 times in the last 11 seasons. That would not happen in 2016, but what did happen is the Noles continued to advance to the NCAA Finals and continued to earn points. With a young and talented team returning, it is quite possible that the Seminoles have another top 4 finish in 2016. They will look to win their 4th National Championship for the legendary Bob Braman (the 2007 championship was vacated due to the academic cheating scandal though, even when it didn't involve athletes that earned points). All of this year's success was without All-American Jalen Ramsey, who was selected 5th overall in the past NFL draft. The Seminoles will be back in a major way in 2017.

Track and Field (Women's)
The Seminole women are also led by the legendary Braman, but have not enjoyed quite the same success. However, this team is still nationally prominent. Several women were able to advance to the NCAA Championships. With such a young team, the Seminoles look to make an even bigger impact in 2017. The FSU women are poised to have a decent shot at winning their 2nd national championship during either the indoor or outdoor season. FSU owns a national championship in 1984 indoor womens track and 1985 outdoor womens track. Coach Braman is the perfect guy to try to lead them there. I heard field events coach, Dennis Nobles, isnt bad either.

Volleyball
Florida State has built up quite a name for themselves on the volleyball landscape since Chris Poole took over in 2008. Since 2009, Poole has led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament every season. The best of these seasons came in 2011 as the Seminoles reached the national semifinal. The current streak of 7 consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearances is a school record. Poole led the Seminoles to a 2nd round finish in 2015 behind some fantastic seniors. Those seniors, Carolina Dadowski, Laura Dadowski, Karlie Hauer, Mercedes Vaughn, and Nicole Walsh went 109-23 as Seminoles. That group only lost 2 games during their entire careers at Tully Gym. Just two losses at home! Absolutely incredible. Despite losing some crazy talent, I'd bet on the Seminoles to make another NCAA appearance in 2016, stretching the school record to 8 seasons. Poole's track record would have you believe nothing less. Heck, they already beat Auburn and Florida during the spring volleyball season.

I told you FSU owns Auburn.
I guess we will let them live in their alternate reality though....

-Noland