New SC coach: K-State's Martin

It appears that K-State's Frank Martin is the new man at South Carolina, per AP.

Link: AP Sources: Frank Martin takes South Carolina job » govolsxtra.com Mobile

 

He's got some work to do

 

I think I read where he was into it with the AD at K-State. I would imagine that something like that must be the case for him to even entertain, let alone take the USCe job.

 

The dude seems to like hard work.

 

Sub-lateral moves always leave me scratching my head. South Carolina basketball is a wasteland.

 

Making really really mean faces on the sideline isn't nearly as hard as you might think.

 

I'm a pretty nice guy, so it seems challenging.

Alright, kid B. Set the over/under on wins for them next season.

 

Conference? 4.5

Overall depends on their schedule, but I'll tentatively toss out 13.5.

 

I'll take the over on conference wins and regular season wins.

 

But not by much

 

A boatload of money and arguing with your boss makes you do strange things.

I'm assuming South Carolina promised him new facilities and to dedicate X amount of dollars to the program to get him to leave or he just likes Columbia better than the little Apple.

 

This is a great move and not lateral at all. USC has a beautiful basketball facility, perhaps the nicest in the SEC, and you are moving to a conference that is dynamic and cares deeply about athletics. I would argue that between Spurrier, Tanner and Martin that South Carolina has the best collection of coaches top to bottom in the league now, and an AD and institution going all in on athletics. (Remember Hyman was a name thrown out during our AD search).

Will it be enough for a program with awful history and nomadic tradition? I don't know, but the players are in state you need to win with.

 

This is an example of the TV money going to work. Schools like South Carolina and MSU can afford to go out and get better.

 

South Carolina doesn't care about basketball.
Steve Spurrier's playcalling savvy isn't going to win Frank Martin any games.
They aren't even paying that much more than he was already contracted to make. K-State could have paid 2 mill a year.

I'm still calling this a sub-lateral move. The man clearly hates his boss with the fire of a thousand suns, so the move is understandable. But it is to a basketball program that is bad, and that I can't personally recall ever being any good.

 

There were very good in the mid-60s and 70s, when Frank McGuire was their coach and Alex English was playing roundball. Fogler was a solid though ultimately uninspiring coach. But that is irrelevant. It is very easy to get good at college hoops if you hire the right person and can recruit well enough. LSU and Georgia in the 80s speak to this, Arkansas in the 90s and Tennessee during the Pearl years.

If Frank Martin was able to get one player from Columbia, Atlanta and Charlotte each year he could rebuild that thing in no time.

 

It's not like K-State was a powerhouse before Huggs/Martin took over. They haven't won a conference title in 35 years; Martin can recruit and coach and will have success at USCe.

 

Yep, he had some good talent at K State. He will light a fire under the fan base as well.

 

Doesn't seem like a destination gig. I think he'll have success there, but imagine he'll be on the move again when a better opportunity presents itself. Not that that's uncommon for any coach, but I think Marshall would have been more likely to cement himself at South Carolina.

 

I'm not so sure about that. None of the real blue blood programs are ever going to hire a guy like Frank.