Frank Martin letter: ‘We have never carried ourselves like a losing basketball team’

Frank Martin is proud to be the head coach of the South Carolina men’s basketball team.

That’s an over-arching theme of a first-person letter published on The Players Tribune ahead of the Gamecocks’ Sweet 16 matchup against Baylor. In the article Martin addresses this historic season and the growth of the program. The letter includes some of the not-so-flattering feedback he got from the coaching community when he took the USC job and some rough early seasons.

▪  On taking the USC job: “When I was contemplating making the move here, what I heard from people was, ‘Frank, everyone loses their job there.’ Nobody gets out of there alive. But I saw this as an opportunity to do something great at a place where that really means something”

▪  On fan support: “Our fans started showing up even when we weren’t winning. They began supporting this team just based on the heart and commitment our players were showing on the court.”

▪  On the early years: “The guys who are leading our team this season didn’t have the benefit playing with a senior class that could show them how to win. They had to develop that culture on their own. There were some tough losses — ugly games even — in their first couple of years here, but these guys put their trust in me.”

▪  On beating Duke: “I’ve seen these guys lose. But I have never seen them defeated. We have never carried ourselves like a losing basketball team. And that night, man did we look like winners.”

Read the full article here.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Frank Martin letter: ‘We have never carried ourselves like a losing basketball team’."