For former USC coach Frank Martin, arrival at UMass represents ‘full-circle’ moment
On Tuesday, former South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin settled into a new shade of red.
Wearing a maroon UMass cap and matching tie, Martin stood in the Champions Center on campus in Amherst, Massachusetts, and introduced himself to a new community at his first press conference as UMass’ coach.
The 56-year-old didn’t make much mention of his firing at USC on March 14 — after 10 years of coaching the Gamecocks. He referenced how he used the past two weeks as a learning opportunity, and then he shifted his focus to his excitement for coaching the Minutemen. After making $3.2 million at the time of his firing, Martin signed a five-year contract with UMass that will average $1.7 million — making him one of the highest-paid state employees in Massachusetts.
Martin described the “full-circle” feeling of coaching at the school where his wife, Anya Martin, once studied.
“I’m so appreciative,” Martin said. “I feel like an 18-year-old that’s going to college for the first time in his life. There’s an enthusiasm that’s in me right now.
“I worked out the guys Sunday night. And I told them, I said, ‘We’re just going to be on the court for 30 minutes.’ I said, ‘This is not for you. This is for me.’ I need to get on the court and teach because it’s what I’ve done my whole life. It’s who I am to my core, which is a teacher.”
USC athletic director Ray Tanner moved on from Martin — and paid a $3 million buyout — after the Gamecocks went 18-13 (9-9 SEC) and failed to make the postseason. Hired in 2012, Martin, 55, 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 Final Four run was USC’s lone NCAA tournament appearance under Martin, and Tanner cited a lack of postseason play in his reasoning for the move.
The Gamecocks replaced Martin with Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris, a five-year head coach who built his recruiting resume as an assistant at Wisconsin under Bo Ryan and Greg Gard.
At UMass, Martin is tasked with taking over a Minutemen program that has made just one NCAA tournament in the 21st century — in 2014. Before that, the Minutemen had established themselves as a basketball power in the mid-90s, making the tournament seven straight years from 1992-97 and reaching as far as the Final Four in 1996, along with three Sweet 16 appearances.
Martin talked Tuesday about trying to elevate UMass back to those heights, and he pointed to his track record at Kansas State and South Carolina in building up winning programs. Known on the outside as being fiery on the court, Martin said — much like he said at USC — that he wants to create a family atmosphere at UMass and bring in the kind of blue-collar personalities that fit his coaching style.
It’s a style he has no plans on changing.
“Everyone says, ‘Frank, you’re kind of old fashioned, and you still kind of get after guys,’ “ Martin said. “Last time I checked, this is my 38th season on a bench that I just finished. I’ve never looked on the bench and found open seats. Somehow, some way, there’s people out there that fit who I am, and want to be a part of what I believe in.
“And it’s my job to find those guys.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 3:17 PM.
