If I’d had a little more time (and space) to write about Georgia Tech’s free throw woes, I would have tried to find evidence that a coach can impact a team’s free-throw performance.

As it turns out, it didn’t take long, though the evidence is not exactly rock solid. In 2006, Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton hired an assistant named Andy Enfield. Among other things, Enfield set the NCAA career record for free-throw percentage, 92.5 percent, at Johns Hopkins. Prior to FSU, he worked as both a private shooting coach and an assistant at the NBA level, where he helped the Boston Celtics improve their free-throw shooting 5.3 percentage points from one season to the next.

He had similar success in Tallahassee, Fla.. The Seminoles went from 70.4 percent in 2005-06 to 75.8 percent in 2006-07. They hit 77.3 percent the next year. Forward Uche Echefu improved from 54.5 percent as a freshman in the 05-06 season (though he only took 22 free throws) to 77.3 percent in Enfield’s first season, then 81.4 percent as a junior and 84.8 percent as a senior.

Curiously, though, FSU tailed off after the 07-08 season – 72.5, 64.4 and 66.6, last place in the ACC in the 09-10 and 10-11. Is it possible to tune out a free-throw shooting coach?

After the 2010-11 season, Enfield was hired as head coach at North Florida Gulf Coast, where, incidentally, former Tech forward Nate Hicks transferred to after last season. (Not related, but Hicks is wearing the No. 1 jersey for the Eagles. Bold choice.)

FGCU is shooting 68.5 percent this year after shooting 67.3 percent in Enfield’s first season. The Eagles were a 65.1 percent team the year before Enfield’s arrival.

Also, since Enfield left FSU, the Seminoles have improved their shooting again, up to 70.7 percent last year and 71.5 percent this year.

All this to say, I’d think a lot of factors go into it – how receptive players are to coaching, the way that free-throw shooting is coached and the ability of the players, among others. FSU’s dip during Enfield’s stay would indicate you can’t pin it all on coaching.

A big challenge, as center Daniel Miller noted, is that "you can't really simulate a game atmosphere."

What Enfield emphasized, according to a Jacksonville Times-Union story from Dec. 2006 (written, incidentally, by a reporter now working for FSU), was technique and repetition to develop confidence.

Said Enfield, "Confidence is a huge factor when you put 12,000 fans in the seats. Once you fill that arena up and the lights go on, you can't duplicate that in practice."

And, to answer a question I know some of you are asking, Mark Price is not allowed to help. NCAA rules prohibit volunteer coaches in basketball. But Tech coaches can buy Enfield's instructional video.