A. W. Hamilton

Hamilton starred at Scott County High School under coach Billy Hicks from 1996 to 1999, earning four varsity letters. He helped lead the Cardinals to the 1998 Kentucky State Basketball Championship before helping guide them to a state runner-up finish in 1999.[2] Hamilton was named 1st team Kentucky All-State in 1999 as well as Kentucky's 8th Region Co-Player of the Year.

Following his career at Scott County, Hamilton played a postgraduate year at Hargrave Military Academy, beginning a relationship with head coach Kevin Keatts. Hamilton averaged 17.9 points, 9.6 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game for Hargrave before signing a full basketball scholarship with Wake Forest.[3]

Hamilton appeared in 19 games for the Demon Deacons in the 2000–01 season, and 4 games in the 2001–02 season before transferring to Marshall for the 2002–03 season. Hamilton went on to play 82 games for the Thundering Herd between 2002 and 2005, starting 81 of them. He averaged 33.9 minutes per game, 8.4 points per game, 5.0 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game during his Marshall Career.[4] Hamilton's name is littered throughout the Marshall All-Time record book, as he currently ranks 10th all-time in career assists (411), 13th in career 3pt% (38.6%), 21st in career steals (107) and 31st in career 3pt field goals made (83). Hamilton led Marshall in assists and steals each season he played for the Thundering Herd.[5]

On September 4, 2015, Hamilton was inducted to the Scott County Sports Hall-of-Fame.[6]

Following graduation from Marshall in 2005, Hamilton joined the Marshall staff as a graduate assistant.

In the 2006–07 season, Hamilton returned to Hargrave Military Academy to serve as an assistant coach on Kevin Keatts' staff. Hamilton was promoted to head coach at Hargrave when Keatts departed for an assistant coach position at Louisville in 2011.

Hamilton had a remarkable run of success as head coach at Hargrave from 2011 to 2017. He totaled 237 wins against just 22 losses and sent 63 of his players on to the NCAA Division I level, with 25 more continuing on to the NCAA Division II level. He coached two players that were drafted in the 2015 NBA Draft, Terry Rozier, #16 to the Boston Celtics, and Montrezl Harrell, #32 to the Houston Rockets.[7] Hargrave was named the Program of the Decade in 2012.[8] Hamilton was named National Prep Coach of the Year twice (2012,2016)[9] and captured the 2016 National Prep Championship in a season where his team went 47–1.[10] Hamilton was also named East Region Coach of the Year three times (2014,2015,2017)[11] and reached the national Elite Eight every season he coached, including three appearances in the Final Four.[12]

Hamilton was inducted to the Hargrave Postgraduate Basketball Hall-of-Fame just months after accepting his position at NC State.[13] In his lone year with the Wolfpack, N.C. State finished 5th in the ACC and was an at-large selection for the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Hamilton was announced as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky on March 23, 2018.[14]

EKU had a decade record crowd on Hamilton's home opener on November 7, 2018 vs his alma mater Marshall University (5,189).[15]

A.W. Hamilton's first win as an NCAA Division 1 Head Coach came on November 10, 2018 vs UT-Chattanooga. Nick Mayo scored 40 points to top the Mocs 81–78 to kick off A.W. Hamilton's career wins tally.[16]

On December 29, 2018, EKU scored a blazing 87 points in a half setting an Ohio Valley Conference Record for most points in a half. A record that hadn't been touched in several decades. His national brand "Most Exciting 40 Minutes in Sports" led to 28 steals, the most by an EKU team since 2003 and led to an EKU school record 55 made field goals.[17] The 145 points scored vs Brescia College on December 29, 2018 is an EKU record for most points in a game. It only took A.W. Hamilton 14 games to shatter this record. His up and down style of play is one of the most exciting brands in college basketball to watch.[18]

A.W Hamilton helped set another EKU attendance record in the past decade in their game vs Murray State on February 16 (5,640) [19]

Hamilton's "Most Exciting 40 Minutes in Sports" not only increased fan attendance in Alumni Coliseum but it also ranked #2 according to KenPom in the NCAA in Tempo/Pace, Forced Turnovers (18.2), Steals Per Game (10.2), and 13th in the NCAA in Scoring in A.W. Hamilton's first year at EKU in 2018–19.[17]

EKU averaged 82.7 Points Per Game during the 2018-19 Campaign, the most points averaged by a Colonel team since 1987. "Most Exciting 40 Minutes in Sports" helped create new records for EKU in his first season at charge, several that'll surely be rewritten by Hamilton's Colonels in the future.[17]

In his second season under A.W. Hamilton, Jomaru Brown scored 41 points vs Western Kentucky University on November 15, setting an Alumni Coliseum record for most points scored by an EKU player and the most by an EKU player in 18 years [20]

Hamilton's Colonels jumped out in the Ohio Valley Conference to a 9–2 start, the best start in 41 years by an EKU Team. During this stretch they won 6 straight games, setting a record for most consecutive games won in conference since the 2007 season.[21]

Hamilton was named the 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Coach of the Year for his efforts, leading the Colonels to the No. 4 seed in the OVC Tournament with a conference record of 12-6 after the team fought through a grueling non-conference schedule. The OVC tournament appearance was the schools first since 2015. The Colonels beat Tennessee State, the schools first conference tournament win since 2014, and made it all the way to the semi-finals. Sophomore guard, Jomaru Brown, was named First Team All-OVC, and Sophomore Forward, Tre King, was named Second Team All-OVC.

Hamilton has installed a fast-paced offense and pressure defense that saw the Colonels rank fifth in the NCAA in forced turnovers (18.27/game), seventh in steals (9.3/game) and 10th in turnover margin (+4.3) this season.[22][23] In both seasons as the head coach of Eastern Kentucky University, his team has ranked top 10 in the NCAA in all three of these categories.

Among being the 2019-20 OVC Coach of the Year, A.W. Hamilton was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 18 Coach of the Year. He is the first Coach at Eastern Kentucky University to receive this award. Sophomore guard was named to the NABC District 18 First Team as well.[22]

The start of the 2020–21 season, A.W. Hamilton led the Colonels to a 6-1 non-conference record, the best non-conference winning percentage in more than 70 years, 1948–49 season.[24]

In the year 2020, EKU led all NCAA Division 1 programs in the state of Kentucky for most wins. The Colonels had 21 wins during 2020, followed by: WKU (20), Murray St. (20), UL (19), UK (17), NKU (17), Bellarmine (13), Morehead St. (11) [25]

EKU Basketball began their 2020-21 season off to a hot 12-2 start, the best start since the 1946-47 season. [26]

A.W. Hamilton and the Colonels started the 2020-21 season in Conference 7-1, it's the best start to conference play in 56 years (1964-65) [27]

• Montrezl Harrell, played at Louisville and is currently with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.
• Terry Rozier, played at Louisville and is currently with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets
• Codi Miller-McIntyre, played at Wake Forest and is currently with Parma Basket of the VTB United League.
• Donte Grantham, played at Clemson University and is currently with the NBA G-League Agua Caliente Clippers
• Jon Davis, played college basketball for the Charlotte 49ers and signed with the Orlando Magic on October 12, 2019
• Naji Marshall, played at Xavier and is currently with the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans

• Nick Mayo, played at Eastern Kentucky University from 2015 to 2019, during his time at EKU he broke the school record for rebounds and points in a career. His senior season under Hamilton he averaged 23.7 points per game, which is the highest PPG in the last 40 years. He currently plays for the Chiba Jets in Japan.

• Eastern Kentucky profile