When Luke Loucks says it’s a busy time of year, he’s not exaggerating. Between fundraising, recruiting and practices, coffee helps power him each day — with the help of a few power naps.
“It is nonstop caffeine, a quick power nap here and there, and then you just got to keep going,’ Loucks said. “But it's fun, man. It is. My wife (Stevi) reminds me this is what you always wanted as a head coach. You get to do this. You don't have to do it. And if you keep that perspective, the job and the long hours don't seem as long.”
Still, Loucks admits the days end well past midnight. He’s a night owl and enjoys the quiet time to watch film and get work done.
“I’ve always been a late night guy since I was a kid, but once my kids go to bed, tuck them in. My wife goes to sleep pretty early, usually around nine 9:30, 10 o'clock,” Loucks said. “I usually get most of my work done because it's peaceful in my house. It's quiet. No one's interrupting anything, and so I try to get a lot done between like 9:30 and 1 a.m. and then somewhere, somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m., I go to sleep and then back up hopefully by 7 to take the kids to school. There is no caffeine cut off. I sleep when I'm exhausted and then I wake up when I need to.”
Loucks spoke about FSU’s 2026-27 team on this week’s Front Row Noles / Seminole Sidelines. Basketball fans in Tallahassee will get their first look in a home game on Saturday when the Seminoles play host to LSU at 1 p.m. You can also watch a live stream on ACC Network Extra.
FSU opens the regular season against Florida A&M on Nov. 2 in Tampa at 8:30 p.m.
First look at home of 2026-27 team
FSU rallied in the second half to defeat Auburn at Birmingham in the team’s first exhibition 82-71. If you missed it, or just caught a few highlights of 7-foot center Marcis Ponder and guard Kam Taylor on social media, Loucks offers up a few bullet points on the transfers and freshmen.
The Seminoles added two guards, Anthony Robinson and Taylor. Robinson started at Missouri for three seasons and made the All-SEC defensive team as a sophomore. Taylor’s athleticism has been cited often by Loucks, who says he is “one of the most dynamic athletes that will play in the ACC.”
FSU also added three forwards: Shon Abaev from Cincinnati, Sebastian Rancik from Colorado and Cooper Schwieger from Wake Forest. Abaev was a McDonald’s All-American in high school that played a year at Cincinnati and has “limitless potential.” Loucks thinks Rancik could be an All-ACC player. Schwieger is a wing or forward but can also be a “small ball 5,” a role that Alex Steen also played in 2025-26.
While Steen was often the tallest rotational player FSU used last season, FSU has far more height.
“A lot of different pieces, positional size across the board,” Loucks said. “We got a lot bigger at every position, which was one of our goals going to the portal, and then a lot of guys that are hungry to to take a jump in their personal careers, but also to win. Which I think the more you can fill your locker room with guys that have a chip on their shoulder, that are hungry to show up every day and develop, to me, the better we're gonna be. And then it's our job as coaches to mold that group into a team that works well together and that's selfless and cares about the guy next to him and all those things that go into the culture of what we're building.”
Ponder is a gifted big man who moves quite well at 285 pounds. His 21 rebounds against Auburn made quite the statement.
“Marcis Ponder is the backbone of this class. You guys saw a bit of it against Auburn,” Loucks said. “Obviously, he's not going to get 21 rebounds every night, but I do think his potential to be one of the most impactful freshmen in the country, not just the ACC, is real. Just his size, strength and power of how he plays and how we're going to use him from day one. You can use that. And it's something we didn't have last year at the center spot. I thought Alex Steen did a great job for us, but he's really an undersized hybrid forward that can play a little-small ball 5 (center). And Ponder is just a massive, massive human. He's still got a long way to go developmentally that we're going to address, which is so exciting that his skills are only going to get better.
“But from day one, from rim-protection-wise, blocking shots, rebounding. I think he could lead the ACC in rebounding if he stays out of foul trouble. And then just his overall presence in the paint is massive.”
Loucks thinks freshmen like Martay Barnes and and Brandon Bass are “going to get opportunities early to play real minutes, which is a big reason why we got them.”
Talent acquisition budget
Loucks said FSU was at the bottom of the power conferences when it came to a budget to acquire talent ahead of his first season. And it was a lightning-fast turnaround as Loucks was hired in mid-March and the transfer portal opened in early April.
Ahead of year 2, Loucks has made fundraising a focal point. He understands that there isn’t a database clearly stating what each men’s college basketball program is spending, but Loucks and his staff have made phone calls and even seen the media’s reporting.
“We've come a long way just with our capabilities of putting a roster together from year one to year two. I would say we still have a long way to go,” Loucks said. “I would say we went from dead last in the ACC and dead last in Power 5 basketball with the Big East because they're probably the second-highest spender below the the SEC when it comes to basketball rosters. We probably went from dead last in that whole group to somewhere below average in the ACC. We're probably somewhere between 10th and 13th in the ACC right now, which is a big jump for us to go from dead last in all of the schools to ‘Hey, we're creeping up to trying to knock on the door of middle of the pack.’
“We're still below average, but we're to the point now with this roster that we put together, and hopefully we'll take another jump next year as we continue to win games and gain momentum and gain trust not only with our administration but boosters and donors, people want to be behind and help build something that they feel like they're a part of and that's special.”
Loucks feels FSU’s coaching staff was able to put competitive offers on the table for transfers, although the Seminoles weren’t the highest bidder on all of the prospects. A development plan and the coaches’ track record was often a difference maker in those that picked FSU.
“We're still not going to outbid. We came close to meeting market average on a couple of guys,” Loucks said. “They still had to take a pay cut to come to us, which I love. They want to be part of what we're building, but hopefully, eventually, someday we can really go out and bid for the guys we want. I'm not saying I'm overpaid for anyone. I don't want to do that, but it is challenging to put a roster together when X, Y and Z (schools) are all 30 to 40 to 50% above you, and you got to try to convince (a player) you're going to take this much less and buy into the vision of what we're doing, buy into our player development, buy into the long-term vision of their career.
“That can work with some guys. It does not work often, especially now that guys have agents. So again, we're in a much better spot than we were a year ago, just in terms of being able to get in the room with some of those guys, where before we were just laughed off the phone.”
Loucks has signed a number of players to multi-year deals. The potential is there for Seminoles to take the next step this season and jump to the NBA. But if that opportunity isn’t there, Loucks feels good about the long-term development plan, too.
“I’ll gladly send my entire team to the NBA and rebuild, right? That to me is what we're pitching,” Loucks said. “We are preparing you for the next level. So whoever doesn't go to the NBA, we would like to build with this group. We got a lot of underclassmen who I feel really really good about as they develop.”
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