Ronnie Hamilton - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Louisville Athletic

Ronnie Hamilton

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
ronnieh@gocards.com

Ronnie Hamilton enters his second season at the University of Louisville as an assistant coach under Pat Kelsey in 2025-26

In Hamilton's first year at Louisville, the Cardinals produced a 27-8 record finishing second in the ACC with an 18-2 league record. UofL also finished runner-up in the league at the ACC Tournament, making the program's first-ever appearance in an ACC Championship game. The Cards earned an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament as an eight-seed, returning to the Big Dance for the first time since 2019.

Hamilton helped Kelsey recruit an entirely new team in 2024-25, returning no scholarship players from the previous season. Chucky Hepburn earned All-ACC First Team honors while also being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and an AP Honorable Mention All-American. Terrence Edwards Jr. picked up Third Team All-ACC honors. The Cardinals were one of the most improved teams in the country both in total wins from the previous season and in NET ranking from the end of 2023-24 to the end of 2024-25.

Hamilton spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at LSU under Matt McMahon. Prior to that, he four seasons at Ole Miss where he worked primarily with the guards and helped Rebels earn All-SEC honors four times.

Ole Miss reached the 2019 NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years, and in his first season with the program, Hamilton helped mentor the highest scoring duo in the SEC in all-conference guards Tyree and Terence Davis.

Hamilton also helped recruit a top-20 class for Ole Miss in 2019, one of the highest-rated classes in school history. The 2020 and 2021 classes also featured the highest-rated recruits the program had signed.

Before arriving at Ole Miss, Hamilton was part of one of the best runs in school history at Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders won three straight Conference USA Championships, recorded two NCAA Tournament upsets over No. 2 seed Michigan State (2016) and No. 5 seed Minnesota (2017), and won a school-record 31 games in 2016.

Hamilton also had assistant coaching stints at Houston, Tulane, The Citadel and Division II Tarleton State.

The Oxford, N.C., native graduated with his master’s in physical education with a concentration in sports administration from UNC Pembroke, where he was graduate assistant coach for the basketball team from 2003-05.

He received his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Duke in 2002. Hamilton was a four-year letterman for the Blue Devil football team as a defensive back. He signed a free-agent contract with the New York Giants. After being cut during the preseason, Hamilton decided to get into coaching, but opted to follow his passion of basketball.

Hamilton is married to Christabell Mariner with four children — Jalyn, Ryan, Annalisa and Bryson.