COACHES
Leonard Hamilton was named the University of Kentucky's first associate basketball coach on Oct. 15, 1980.
Hamilton has been a member of the Wildcat coaching staff for nine years. He came to Kentucky after serving three years as an assistant coach at Austin Peay.
He has always been noted as an outstanding recruiter and as a defensive specialist. Most remarkable in his coaching career is the fact that in 11 of his 12 years as a coach on the collegiate level, the team he has been associated with has advanced to postseason play. Only in his
first season at Austin Peay has Hamilton not been involved in a postseason tournament.
A native of Gastonia, N.C, Hamilton lettered three years in football and two years in basketball in high school. He captained his basketball team for two years at Gastonia Community College, and also served as team captain at Tennessee-Martin, where he graduated in 1970.
The 35-year-old Hamilton is married to the former Claudette Hale of McLemoresville, Tenn. They have a son, Lenny, 14.
SSOCIATE COACH
JIM HATFIELD
Assistant Coach
Iim Hatfield rejoined the Wildcat coaching staff on Aug. 24, 1983. Hatfield served as an assistant coach under Coach Joe B. Hall from 1972 to 1974. Upon leaving UK, Hatfield became head basketball coach at Southwestern Louisiana where his teams compiled a 47-35 record and won a Southland Conference championship. Among his players at Southwestern Louisiana was present NBA standout Andrew Toney. He was Southland Conference Coach-of-the-Year on two occasions.
Following his tenure at Southwest Louisiana, Hatfield was head basketball coach at Mississippi State. He led the Bulldogs to a 40-42 record in three seasons. In 1978-79, MSU finished 19-9 and appeared in the NIT. While at MSU,
LEONARD HAMILTON
Associate Coach
SSISTANT
Hatfield coached or recruited three NBA first round draft choices in Ricky Brown, Wiley Peck, and Jeff Malone.
The past two years, Hatfield has served as athletics director and head basketball coach at Hardin-Simmons.
The son of a minister, his family traveled extensively while he was growing up. Some of his early public schooling came in Lexington. He graduated from Knoxville (Tenn.) Fulton High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from East Tennessee State in 1965 and a master's degree from the University of Montevallo (Ala.) in 1970.
Hatfield is married to the former Lana Murdock of Orlando, Fla. They have three children: Angie, 11; )immy, 9; and Lisa, 7.
10