Frank Martin addresses job rumors, says South Carolina is ‘where I want to call home’
It’s that time of year again. Frank Martin knows it well.
In the nine years he’s coached at South Carolina, Martin has heard his name mentioned in the coaching rumor mill every season — usually around this time. This spring, national basketball writers have floated Martin’s name for New Mexico’s head coach opening, citing Martin’s connection to athletic director Eddie Nunez, whom Martin once coached.
But on Tuesday — two days before the No. 11 seed Gamecocks (6-14, 4-11 SEC) begin SEC tournament play in Nashville — Martin squashed any notion that he would leave for another school. He said the only time he’s ever talked to another university about a coaching job was in 2019, when he emerged as a key target for Cincinnati. But Martin didn’t even interview for the job, pulling himself out of contention before he had the opportunity.
“I’ve been here nine years, so if anyone has the opinion that I’m trying to chase other jobs, I wouldn’t have been here for nine years,” Martin said. “This is my home, my family loves it here. I love it here. … I’m not gonna sit here and brag about who we are as a family, but we have given ourselves to this community. I said it from Day 1, I don’t want to be known as the basketball coach. I want to be known as a member of this community. And that’s what we’ve done.”
Of course, the decision might not be Martin’s to make, and the head coach acknowledged that he doesn’t know what the university is thinking as far as his job status goes, saying he’ll have those conversations with athletic director Ray Tanner and the USC administration after the season ends.
The Gamecocks, who moved on from football coach Will Muschamp in the fall, would owe Martin a $6.5 million buyout if they fired him, per his contract. The 54-year-old has two years left on his deal, making roughly $3 million per year. The Gamecocks have extended his deal twice, inking him to a four-year extension in 2016 and adding an additional year to his contract after the team’s 2017 Final Four run.
Martin has led the Gamecocks to a 153-133 record, including six straight seasons of finishing .500 or better — the longest such stretch for the team since the Frank McGuire years in the 1970s. This season, from a win-loss perspective, has been the team’s worst under Martin. Yet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been anything but a typical season.
Martin tested positive for the virus twice, including a more severe case in January. In the days and weeks after he returned to the team, he said if he didn’t have a responsibility to his players, he would’ve opted out. And he wasn’t alone in those struggles. The Gamecocks shut down three separate times due to COVID-19 and lost their most established big man, Alanzo Frink, for the season.
While Martin has said many times that he doesn’t want to use COVID-19 as an excuse, he’s also acknowledged that the current climate has affected the way he coaches. Known for his fire and passion, Martin has taken a gentler approach with the team this season, saying often that his players being “at peace” is his top priority.
The coach hasn’t revealed just how many of his players tested positive for the virus throughout the season, saying it’s up to the players and their families to talk about it. But he’s hinted at deeper issues on the team beyond just missing games and practices, pointing to players going through adversity with family back home and other complications due to the pandemic.
“Wins and losses have been the least of the struggle,” Martin said. “This year it’s dealing with people. It’s dealing with spirits. It’s dealing with 18-year-olds losing loved ones. Dealing with a player that wasn’t allowed to play the rest of the season. It’s dealing with an atmosphere of individuality, where everyone’s isolated and sequestered. It’s dealing with a bunch of 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds that are trying to figure out why they got to get their nose stabbed every single day so they can play. It’s dealing with seven weeks of not being able to practice and create an identity.”
With players cooped up in apartments and unable to attend class in person, Martin has talked often about the mental toll players have dealt with this year.
Critics of Martin point to the fact that the team has made just one NCAA tournament in Martin’s nine years. Martin has argued that he helped elevate the program, saying that even if USC hired “Coach K, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson” as a coaching staff, the Gamecocks wouldn’t have been a postseason team in his first three seasons.
The Gamecocks made the NIT in Martin’s fourth year and made the school’s first-ever Final Four run a year later, while setting a school record with 26 wins.
The Gamecocks haven’t made the postseason since. Martin said Tuesday that team hit the “reset button” after the Final Four year and finally built back up to being a “postseason team” last year, when the Gamecocks finished 18-13 (10-8) before the season was cut short due to COVID-19. At the time, the Gamecocks were on the bubble for the NCAA tournament but had an opportunity to improve their standing at the SEC tournament.
This season, the Gamecocks would have to win the SEC tournament to earn an NCAA tournament bid, a journey that begins Thursday night against No. 6 seed Ole Miss.
With the team preparing for its trip to Nashville, Martin said he’s not worried about his job status right now. He said it wouldn’t be fair to the players to have those kinds of conversations during the season. But as soon as the season ends, the topic will be unavoidable.
“I’m going to visit with my bosses, who I respect tremendously, when the season ends, and they know where I stand,” Martin said. “They all know that I’ve had countless opportunities to leave and I’ve chosen not to even talk, let alone leave. And this is our home. This is what we love.
“When the season ends, I’ll have those conversations. And if I’m wanted, this is where I want to call home. … I fixed this program. And I know what’s not working this year, but the program ain’t broke. So whenever I can hit the reset button, we fixed it once from a bad situation. We’ll fix it again.”
Next USC basketball game
Who: No. 11 seed South Carolina (6-14, 4-12 SEC) vs. No 6 seed Kentucky (15-10, 10-8)
Where: SEC tournament in Nashville, Tennessee
When: 9 p.m. Thursday
Watch: SEC Network
