| USA TODAY Sports Network – South Carolina
University of South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin was in shock last month after receiving a call from the doctor’s office saying he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Martin had been tested only because it was a prerequisite for knee replacement surgery. He showed no symptoms. He was not feeling bad. A slight exhaustion was the only indication that something was wrong.
“The last thing on my mind, because we had been so careful, was that I would be positive,” said Martin in a video conference with reporters on Tuesday, after releasing a statement acknowledging that he had the virus.
“I probably dealt badly with my family because I was on the exercise bike when I got the call and by chance my wife was leaving and I told her and I went into the house and my kids were having lunch and I just put them on,” said Martin. everybody, which aggravated the whole problem, but I was scared. ”
Martin, 54, received the news on May 10, and his disbelief came not only because he did not feel the symptoms, but also because his family had been extremely cautious since the beginning of the social detachment guidelines. Martin said that they never visited anyone’s home, did not receive guests and always kept their children at home. The results of his May 23 follow-up test were negative.
He said he has no idea how or where he contracted the coronavirus and never had to be hospitalized, instead of being quarantined at his home. No other family member has tested positive, he said.
Martin said his only excursions away from home were essential trips to places like the supermarket and four or five times to play golf, when participants used their own carts and kept the proper distance.
“That was my biggest unsettling feeling, that we, as a family, took unbelievable care in how we deal with this whole block,” said Martin. “We literally had to fight our 21-year-old son because he wanted to be 21 and we had to make him understand if you are going to stay in this house, you are not going to make us sick. You have to stay here. “
Martin was concerned that COVID-19 would return until March 11, when he was sitting at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, exploring Arkansas and Vanderbilt in the second game of the SEC Tournament. Gamecocks were scheduled to play with the winner.
“I went to my hotel room that night and all I could think about was, ‘I don’t know if I want to play this game’,” he said. “I couldn’t say that to the players because I asked them and everyone wanted to play, but I already he was restless. “
The tournament was canceled the next day.
“I say this all the time: if you tell me I have to go through some doors and there is a brown bear on the other side, I will take a deep breath and face the bear. But if you tell me that I have to go through the doors and I have no idea what I’m going to fight on the other side, I won’t go through those doors in a comfortable way, “said Martin.” This is a stranger. Even with me negative now, this is incredible, but this is new.
“Does anyone know what happens six months after the test is positive or if there is a side effect that is going to appear? So those concerns still exist for me.”
The coronavirus affected Martin’s outlook to the point of delaying his players’ return to campus. Athletes can now return, but the men’s basketball team is not due until June 29.
“I prefer to wait,” said Martin. “Football, God bless them, they got into this thing with their feet on the ground and the players and coaches are excited. (Athletic Director) Ray Tanner and President (Robert) Caslen did an unbelievable job of creating a plan to make this safe. There is a vision in place.
“I’m excited to see how football is going to happen, but we’re going to wait until July to find out how we’re going to deal with it. My initial reaction was I can’t wait, and when I found out (I had COVID-19), I stepped back and said what I will say to a father if his son comes here and gets infected. And, God forbid, they go home in August and infect their family. I don’t know what I would do.
“Like everything in my life, I’d rather be safe than having to call and apologize.”