FSU Basketball’s Luke Loucks continues to win over fans with latest hire

Luke Loucks has completely revamped Florida State's men's basketball staff from top to bottom, bringing in a unique blend of people with FSU ties as well as NBA ties.

The continued with his latest hire, as the team announced the hiring of Derwin Kitchen as an Assistant Player Development Coach. Kitchen played at FSU from 2008 to 2011, being a teammate of Loucks' that entire time. He started 82 of 91 games in his tenure in Tallahassee, averaging 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 3.9 APG in his senior season.

Welcome home, Derwin Kitchen#connected pic.twitter.com/MMEjN036Ru
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) August 29, 2025

Kitchen went to Raines High School in Jacksonville before initially starting his college career at Iowa Western Community College. He transferred to FSU after one season, had a solid career in Tallahassee, and that led to a seven-year career overseas that ended in 2018, mostly in Israel, but he also had a stint in France and with the Denver Nuggets in the 2012 NBA Summer League.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Derwin Kitchen back to the Florida State Basketball program as an assistant coach specializing in player development," Loucks said via the official release.

"Derwin was a very successful professional basketball player following a great career at Florida State, where he played in three NCAA Tournaments. More importantly, Derwin's character, work ethic, and ability to build authentic relationships will be a representation of what means most to our program. He will be a strong asset to me and our staff as a connector, teacher of the game, and mentor for our roster."

Mar 25, 2011; San Antonio, TX, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Derwin Kitchen (22) during the semifinals of the southwest regional of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament against the Virginia Commonwealth Rams at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Florida State Connections on Staff

Derwin Kitchen is far from the only person with FSU ties on this staff. Luke Loucks was a former Seminoles player himself from 2008-2012, assistant player development coach Justin Lindner was a walk-on at FSU from 2016 to 2022, and assistant general manager Terance Mann starred at FSU from 2015 to 2019. Those are just the people who played at FSU.

Then, director of player development Chris Kent was a graduate assistant at FSU from 2015 to 2017, assistant coach Michael Fly was FSU's video coordinator from 2008 to 2011 (same time as Loucks and Kitchen), assistant coach Gerald Gillion graduated from FSU in 2008, Chief of Staff Kelly Nielsen was the Executive Assistant and Board Relations Coordinator for the Seminole Boosters, Director of Basketball Operations Perin Foote was a student manager at FSU from 2016 to 2020, and assistant director of basketball operation Ryan Shnider has been with the team since 2019 as a student manager and graduate assistant.

This team is full of people who love Florida State and want the best for it, which is unique in college basketball these days.

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