RALEIGH – NC State men’s basketball head coach Will Wade announced that he has added Vernon Hamilton to his staff as an assistant coach.

Hamilton has previously worked with Wade at McNeese and at LSU and Wade was a student manager and graduate assistant during Hamilton’s playing career at Clemson.

“I’ve known Vernon since we were both in college at Clemson,” Wade said. “He has a relentless motor and a great ability to connect with players. He does a tremendous job developing players both on and off the court and is a great addition to our program.”

Hamilton comes to the Pack after two seasons at McNeese.

In his two years at Lake Charles, Hamilton helped McNeese go 58-11 and win two Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles. The Cowboys 58 wins is the most in school history in a two-year span.

While with McNeese, Hamilton mentored back-to-back Southland Players of the Year in Shahada Wells and Javohn Garcia, as well as two-time Southland Defensive Player of the Year, Christian Shumate.

Hamilton came to McNeese after serving one season as the Director of Player Development at Georgetown University with head coach Patrick Ewing.

Prior to his stint at Georgetown, Hamilton spent two years with Wade at LSU as the Director of Player Development where he helped with the teaching of Tiger standouts Cameron Thomas and Tari Eason, both who were first round picks in the NBA Draft – Thomas as the 27th overall selection in the 2021 draft and Eason the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft.

Prior to LSU, Hamilton served two years as Assistant and Associate Head Basketball Coach of the Jeonju KCC Egis team in the South Korean Basketball League. The team advanced to the KBL semifinals in 2019. Hamilton was the first American and youngest coach selected to coach in the KBL All-Star game.

He also served as a member of the player development staff for the Dallas Mavericks during the 2017-18 season, assisting Mavericks staff with on-court drills, player workouts and breakdown of player videos and workouts.

Hamilton also served for two years as a Graduate Assistant at Clemson (2014-16) while also earning his master’s of science in youth development leadership at the school. He assisted in several aspects of the basketball program working with the coaching staff and student-athletes.

Hamilton was a four-year starter for Clemson (2004-07) and ended his career No. 1 all-time in steals average at the school with 271 steals. That was sixth in career steals in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is No. 9 in assists at Clemson with 403 and scored over 1,200 points to finish in the top 25 in school history.

He was first team ACC All-Defensive team in 2006 and on the Collegeinsider.com Defensive All-American team in 2007. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in sports management in 2007.

Professionally, Hamilton played basketball overseas, including earning defensive player of the year of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2011. His Colorado 14ers won the NBA G League title in 2009.

Hamilton has also served as Marketing Logistics Manager for Coca-Cola Glaceau in Washington, D.C., and has served for several years as a mentor for 100 Black men of Atlanta and was co-chair of the Kids Score Against Kidney Disease Basketball Camp in Richmond, Virginia presented by the National Kidney Foundation in 2005.

Hamilton Coaching Timeline
2023-25 – Assistant Coach at McNeese
2022-23 – Director of Player Development at Georgetown
2020-22 – Director of Player Development at LSU
2018-20 – Assistant/Associate Head Coach at Jeonju KCC Egis (South Korea)
2017-18 – Player Development Staff with Dallas Mavericks
2014-16 – Graduate Assistant at Clemson

–News release courtesy of NC State Men’s Basketball