Clark column: The Great Ham Debate

Do you think it will ever end?

Will there ever be a time when the "Ham haters" and "Ham lovers" co-exist peacefully on this wonderful website? When those identifiers will be dropped, and everyone will just be known as Florida State basketball fans?

My guess is ... no. It's the debate that will continue to rage until the end of time. Or Leonard Hamilton decides to retire. Whichever happens first.

If you think Hamilton is doing a good job, then you obviously are settling for mediocrity. If you think FSU can do better than Hamilton, then you clearly have no clue how hard it is to win here.

It's a fascinating dynamic to watch play out day after day, game after game, year after year. No matter how good or bad the year happens to be. It's the Groundhog Thread of both the Tribal Council and the Seminole Hoops Talk message boards.

I wonder if there was any other team site in the country on Sunday night -- after a team earned a second straight bid to the NCAA Tournament -- that had multiple threads wanting a new head coach.

There was one entitled, "What main reasons cause FSU BB to not be successful." There was another one entitled, "Georgia fires mediocre coach," with the assertion being UGA cares more about basketball because it got rid of Mark Fox, while FSU continues to settle for "mediocre."

On the same day FSU made the NCAA Tournament.

It's just ... odd.

And I've been thinking about it a lot over the last few days: Why do Florida State fans have such wildly contrasting opinions about a head coach who has had a decent (certainly not outstanding) tenure, who graduates his players and who has never done anything to embarrass the university?

First off, let me pinpoint the fans I'm writing about.

If you're one of the fans who expects Florida State basketball to compete for national championships on a regular basis, to consistently challenge the likes of Kansas, Kentucky and Duke, to be a perennial Top 4 seed in the ACC ... go ahead and stop reading now.

This one isn't for you. If you're one of the voices that says, "we should have the same expectations for basketball as we do for football" ... then you can sit this column out.

No hard feelings, but I'm aiming this one more at the rational folks.

I appreciate you clicking on the story, but I'm going to have to ask you to hit the back arrow now.

As for the logical Florida State fans -- the ones who understand some of the obstacles this program has to overcome in terms of facilities, fan support, tradition, conference opponents, etc. -- I understand both sides of the argument.

I don't think there are many Hamilton supporters (of course, I would hope all of you are Hamilton supporters in the sense that you want him to win, but I'm wording it like that to make the distinction) who think he is the absolute best that Florida State can do. It's not that. They just don't feel his accomplishments -- coupled with the hurdles he overcomes -- have been appreciated enough by the anti-Hammers.

At the same time, I understand how their support can come off as a little preachy at times. Like they know more than you. Like you're somehow less of a fan if you point out his lack of postseason accomplishments and you don't feel like doing cartwheels just because he's better than Steve Robinson.

Yeah, we get it. He's a lot better than that guy. But that ain't exactly a high bar to clear.

And should six NCAA Tournament berths and four NCAA Tournament wins in 16 years be good enough?

Of course, that's another thing that adds to this whole dynamic. Maybe the biggest thing, in fact.

Six ... teen ... years.

That's a long, long, long time to be at one school. Heck, Jimbo Fisher was here half that long in football, and it felt like two centuries. Sometimes I have to remind myself that Hamilton wasn't here during the Darrell Mudra Era. It just feels that way. And familiarity -- along with 10 missed NCAA Tournaments -- has a way of breeding contempt. Or at the very least, it breeds a lot of skepticism.