The man who made probably the most famous pass in Florida State men's basketball history is now the Seminoles' head coach.

Luke Loucks -- he who made that incredible no-look, cross-court pass for an assist on Michael Snaer's buzzer-beating shot at No. 4 Duke, he who was the starting senior point guard on the 2011-12 FSU team that pulled off the seemingly impossible and won the ACC Tournament -- is back home.

The FSU alum was announced as the head coach at his alma mater on Sunday, almost exactly 13 years after his FSU playing career came to an end.

A Clearwater native, Loucks arrived at FSU ahead of the 2008-09 season. His freshman class, which included the likes of Deividas Dulkys and Xavier Gibson, became the first group of Seminoles to make the NCAA Tournament in each of their four seasons with the program.

At the end of his career in 2012, Loucks was FSU's all-time leader in games played (136). He's been passed by a few players since but is still tied for fourth in program history.

His only full-time season as a starter in 2011-12, he averaged 7.1 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, personified what Leonard Hamilton was looking for defensively and was named to the All-ACC Tournament first team that season in large part because of his first career double-double (13 points, 10 assists) in the Seminoles' 85-82 win over North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game.

Thirteen years after achieving that feat, he's now back at his alma mater, following in his former coach Leonard Hamilton's footsteps and leading the Seminoles into the new era of college basketball.

Of the countless players that Hamilton developed, it's fitting that one of them will take over the program when his 23-year tenure comes to an end this month.

“Luke was an exceptional Seminole player who played a key role in leading Florida State to its first ACC Championship. I’m very proud to see him return as head coach of a program he helped elevate to such great heights," Hamilton said via press release. "Luke and (his wife) Stevi embody what it means to be a Seminole -- wearing the Garnet and Gold isn’t just part of their past; it’s part of who they are. They are family, and it’s special to have a Florida State basketball coach who truly understands that. I also want to commend Director of Athletics Michael Alford and Deputy Director of Athletics Doug Walker for conducting a thoughtful and thorough search process, resulting in an excellent choice to lead the Florida State program into its next chapter.”

While FSU also looked at some candidates with college coaching experience as well as head coaching experience, it settled on someone who has neither. Loucks has never been a head coach and has never coached in college.

But he's incredibly well-regarded in NBA circles and has worked under the likes of Steve Kerr and Mike Brown. When his professional playing career flamed out after a few seasons due to injuries, he quickly found an internship in film and player development with the Golden State Warriors in 2016-17. Two NBA titles later, he worked his way up to a staff position for the Warriors as a player development coach.

He parlayed that into an assistant coach position for the Sacramento Kings in 2022 -- with an Olympic stint as an assistant coach for the Nigerian National Team in between -- and took over as the Kings' defensive coordinator this season.

"Luke is a young, bright coach that will be a head coach in the NBA someday," Brown said of Loucks in a preseason interview this season. "He's an out-of-the-box thinker. He's got a lot of crazy ideas that make my hair stand up, if I had any. He's done a heck of a job in the short time that he's been defensive coordinator."

Obviously, there are some inherent risks hiring a guy who has never before been a head coach. There have been plenty of good assistant coaches across all sports who didn't work out in head coach roles.

However, that risk is at least somewhat partially negated by the fact that FSU is hiring someone who truly bleeds garnet and gold.

Loucks' dad, Lincoln, was a walk-on member of the FSU football team in the 1980s. He's been a part of success with an underfunded FSU basketball program relative to some of its ACC peers and knows how intense the FSU basketball fandom can get when things are going well on the court.

At 34 years old, he'll certainly be willing to do some of the things (attacking the transfer portal, aggressive fundraising) that Hamilton was less willing to do. He should also have his former coach still around in some capacity as an unofficial advisor of sorts to guide him through his first head coaching position.

Another major reason to back the Loucks hire relative to an outside hire is the potential long-term benefits. While an established head coach in the mid-major ranks could have come in and turned the program around, it's much more likely they could have turned that FSU success into a new job at a school where basketball is the No. 1 priority.

If Loucks has success with the Seminoles, it's easy to envision this could be another lengthy coaching tenure in the vein of Hamilton's. Because it's not too hard to imagine that this is a dream job for the native son who helped lead the Seminoles to the ACC mountaintop as a player and will now be tasked with doing so again as a coach.

“I am incredibly honored and excited for the opportunity to become the head coach for the Florida State men’s basketball team,” Loucks said in the FSU press release announcing his hire. “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."

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