Frank Martin going from USC to UMass in 11 days represents a little Gamecock history
Former South Carolina head coach Frank Martin has found a new head coaching job.
UMass finalized the hiring of Martin on Friday — one day after USC introduced Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris as Martin’s Gamecocks replacement.
Martin, 56, spent 10 years coaching in Columbia. He compiled a 171-147 (79-99 SEC) career record with the Gamecocks. The win total is the third most in program history, and his tenure was highlighted by the program’s only Final Four in 2017.
But that 2017 run would be the only NCAA tournament appearance for Martin’s Gamecocks, and athletic director Ray Tanner cited the lack of postseason appearances as a reason for the change in the school’s official statement on the matter.
The new destination marks a homecoming of sorts for the Martin family as Frank’s wife, Anya, is a UMass graduate.
UMass fired five-year head coach Matt McCall in March after a 15-17 season. He led UMass to a 60-81 record over his coaching career.
Martin makes South Carolina coaching history
Not many head coaches of major sports in recent South Carolina history have left the school to immediately be head coaches elsewhere.
Martin’s move from South Carolina to UMass took 11 days, which might be the fastest any former USC coach has been hired elsewhere. He’s the first former Gamecocks basketball coach to make such a move since Bill Foster resigned as USC coach and was hired by Northwestern a short time later, but that transition took a few weeks.
Darrin Horn (2008-12) was fired at South Carolina, spent four seasons as a Texas assistant and has since resurfaced as a head coach at Northern Kentucky.
Baseball coach Chad Holbrook, who resigned in June 2017, landed at College of Charleston about a month and a half later.
In football, Shawn Elliott served as interim head coach when Steve Spurrier resigned in the middle of the 2015 season. Elliott was then an assistant at USC under Will Muschamp before being hired as head coach at Georgia State.
Before Elliott, Sparky Woods (football, 1989–1993) landed another head coaching job (VMI), but it was 15 years after he left South Carolina.
In women’s basketball, Nancy Wilson (1985-97) left USC and eventually took a head coaching job at College of Charleston in 2003, her second stint with that school.
— The State’s Dwayne McLemore contributed
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 9:50 AM.
