USC wants to bring back Frank Martin as a basketball coach to avoid another major acquisition | South Carolina

COLOMBIA – After two weeks of speculation about his future, Frank Martin appears to remain a South Carolina men’s basketball coach.

USC is trying to bring Martin back to the Colonial Life Arena for a 10th season next year, sources close to the situation confirmed to The Post and Courier on March 26, although any deal would have to deal with the purchase of Martin’s contract. The coach’s hefty $ 6.5 million was enough reason this weekend to discuss the possibility of keeping him in Columbia.

The talks broke up what was a tense situation about the future of a major USC program and the prospect of Gamecocks spending another million to send another coach away.

After a 76-59 SEC tournament loss to Ole Miss on March 11, Martin met with Gamecock athletics director Ray Tanner and other USC administrators, expressing his desire for an extension of his current contract to two years.

The USC declined and the two sides agreed to let Martin talk to other schools about their jobs as a head coach, thus saving USC the tough task of potentially firing its third winning coach and Martin from the stigma of being fired.

Due to his revamped contract after the greatest achievement in the program’s history, the Four Finals of 2017, Martin’s agreement was amended to say that if he were dismissed without cause, he would receive 100 percent of his remaining guaranteed compensation. The original contract was 66%.

But after the USC paid former football coach Will Muschamp $ 12.9 million in January to leave, another $ 6.5 million pill seemed too big to swallow, and South Carolina’s state lawmakers went into scene.

A USC sports information spokesman had no information on the night of March 26 about Martin’s status for the next season.

The apparent decision to keep Martin came a day after USC President Bob Caslen was questioned by a state senator during a hearing about how the university could get $ 35 million for a new medical school and still pay millions to buy it. coaches contracts.

The exchange was a sign that the acquisitions, which would total about $ 20 million if Martin were fired, could undermine the USC’s ability to obtain much-needed support from lawmakers for its major projects.

Martin’s name was never mentioned directly, but the basketball coach’s future was clearly implicit in the exchanges during the hearing.

SC Sen Darrell Jackson, D-Columbia, asked Caslen if the USC could have spent the money for Muschamp’s acquisition in medical school if the Gamecocks had not fired the coach.

Caslen explained that any extra money would have been used to reduce the sports department’s nearly $ 60 million deficit from the COVID-19 restrictions on games and fans.

Jackson pressured Caslen about how the USC could use money to send trainers to construction projects.

“We established the fact that the athletes’ money could be used for medical university or any future purchase from any coach,” said Jackson.

Caslen replied that the lost teams hurt USC’s finances, especially when fans can fully return.

“Senator, you have to put this in the business model of what will happen in the years to come if you continue to have such a miserable and losing track record,” said Caslen. “I mean, how many fans are going to come to the game and show up for it? And what is the financial impact when you have something like that? “

Jackson replied that universities survived financially, despite losing teams.

“I am familiar with many colleges that have been breaking records for years and years and these colleges are doing very well and educating many people across the country,” said the senator. “As important as athletics is for all of us, including yours, there are things that are more important than athletics.”

In an interview on March 26, Jackson said it was not fair for the USC to consider getting rid of Martin after he was hit twice with COVID-19.

“He probably put COVID doing his job and the ‘thank you’ he gets is, ‘Let’s fire him because you put your life on the line by doing your job,'” Jackson, a church pastor, told The Post and Courier. . “To be honest, I am very disappointed in the university for just thinking about it.”

Jackson added that the USC would need to give some explanations if it were to pay another major purchase contract.

“If they fired Frank Martin, they would have better justified why they needed a penny from the state,” he said.

Now Martin could have a chance to keep his promise by declaring before the SEC tournament that he fixed the Gamecocks once and that he could do it again.

It remains to be seen what kind of lineup he would have (no player entered the transfer portal or finalized his future plans), but although he probably lost several of his top scorers, he would keep a core of his team and the four candidates he committed to.

Martin is likely to receive some kind of contract extension, since it is difficult for any coach to recruit under the age of four, the presumed eligibility of an athlete, in his contract. There are several ways that the USC can also adjust the contract so that it does not make a major acquisition again.

Martin is the first USC coach since the legendary Frank McGuire to post six consecutive seasons without losing and the most winning Gamecocks coach in the NCAA Tournament, with four wins. He took the Gamecocks to the Final Four, but the last season was 6-15.

Gamecocks have not shown much progress since the Final Four, although much of this disastrous season may be linked to COVID-19.

The pandemic defined the year, forcing three breaks from November to January and removing almost six weeks of training and several games from the schedule. The USC never recovered, despite having the deepest and most talented squad since the year of the Final Four.

When Martin was first attacked with COVID-19, some of his hair fell out and he chose to shave his head completely. The second infection left him with little energy to train.

However, the predominant feeling of the school leaders was that the Gamecocks should still have been better than what they showed, and after the Final Four was followed by seasons 17-16, 16-16 and 18-13 and this year without postseason again, many questioned about the future of the program.

The most repeated observation as this season came to an end was 1 in 9, Martin’s appearances on the NCAA Tournament in seasons at USC. Gamecocks have participated in nine tournaments in 81 years, which also reaches 1 in 9.

A new coach would likely bring a new lineup and a very small chance of improving those numbers.

With Martin possibly returning and bringing some of his players back, in addition to his recruits, he at least offers the promise of a greater chance of reaching the postseason and resuming the progress he made in his first five years.