01/02 at 10:41 PM

Jacob Ridenhour wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to study when he enrolled at Auburn in the early 1990s.

He thought about being an engineer, maybe something having to do with building science.

But neither of those sounded like very interesting topics to orate on for an assignment in his freshman speech class.

So an adviser suggested the Salisbury, N.C., native take a trip to Auburn High School and talk with boys basketball coach Frank Tolbert, maybe do something on Ridenhour’s love of basketball.

“I’ve known basketball from the time I’ve been old enough to know what’s going on,” Ridenhour said.

That meeting led to helping out with the Auburn High team, which led to becoming a student manager on Tommy Joe Eagles’ team at the university, which led to a post-grad job on the staff of Cliff Ellis, which led to his current post as the director of operations for Leonard Hamilton’s Florida State Seminoles.

All starting from that one speech assignment.

“If you shook a tree, a thousand people would fall out that would beg for my job today,” said Ridenhour, a ’95 Auburn grad in education. “It’s overworked and underpaid, but I could be going to work at the bank wearing a suit every day.”

Ridenhour said his job includes “basically everything but game preparation and recruiting” for the Seminoles (11-3), who travel to Auburn (6-7) to take on his alma mater tonight at 7 p.m.

That includes, but is not limited, to: making all the travel arrangements, being in charge of the staff at the basketball office, developing contacts with the community and serving as a liaison with the university and operating the Seminoles’ basketball camps.

“Leonard’s the CEO,” Ridenhour said. “But I guess I’m, like, right there.”

He said it’s much the same role he worked up to serving on Ellis’ staff — first as an administrative assistant, then as the director of operations — during the Auburn basketball “glory days,” or at least its most successful period since Charles Barkley graced the court.

Ridenhour was with Ellis’ staff from the time he graduated through the time Ellis left in 2004, and saw three NCAA Tournaments, including two Sweet Sixteen berths.

“I worked my way up with Cliff to where I was kind of his right-hand guy,” Ridenhour said.

“And then when Cliff got let go, I got hung out to dry.

“I got nothing.”

Here, a bit of serendipity intervened again.

Through Ellis, Ridenhour had struck up a friendship with SEC supervisor of officials John Guthrie.

Ridenhour delivered some Russell merchandise to one of Guthrie’s referee clinics in Tallahassee, Fla., and was talking with Guthrie about his next step.

Well, Leonard Hamilton’s upstairs in his office, Guthrie said. Why don’t we go meet him?
Ridenhour met with Hamilton, who was friends with former Ellis assistants Charlton Young (now head coach at Georgia Southern) and Eugene Harris (now head coach at Florida A&M).

And both were more than happy to vouch for Ridenhour.

“I got all the right ties there,” Ridenhour said.

Ridenhour’s been on Hamilton’s staff since the 2005-06 season, through 109 wins, three NIT appearances and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.

But he still has a soft spot for the place that gave him his start.

“Auburn is really more home than where I’m from,” Ridenhour said. “The defining years of my life, my life was there. It is a special community with special people.

“Graduating from Auburn University, working at Auburn University and living in the Auburn community made me the person I am.”

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