South Carolina has only been to the NCAA Tournament once in the past 17 seasons and this has resulted in a Final Four under Frank Martin, but things haven’t been going well for Gamecocks since then. South Carolina hasn’t returned to the tournament since the Final Four in 2017 and this year it looks like it won’t end in March Madness either, which puts Martin’s job security in question. Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel was able to shed some light on Martin’s chances of getting fired at the end of this season.
“Martin has always been a popular name mentioned in other polls, and there will be inevitable talk in New Mexico and DePaul this year,” wrote Thamel. “But Martin makes more than $ 3 million a year, and there are few jobs that pay in that neighborhood that would receive his performance. (He has two years left on his contract and would receive about $ 6.5 million if he resigns.)
“The uncertain future of South Carolina AD Ray Tanner it further confuses Martin’s future, as Tanner is not expected to come close to the nearly three years remaining in his business. South Carolina just hired Shane Beamer in football and related it to an AD that is not expected for a long time. Can they do the same in basketball? “
After doing the NCAA tournament four times in five years at Kansas State – including a race for the Elite Eight in 2010 – Martin left school to take over after Darrin Horn was fired. Martin had the .500 Gamecocks back in just his third year and had 25 wins in his fourth year. In his fifth season in South Carolina, Martin and others like PJ Dozier, Sindarius Thornwell and others took the team to Final Four like a seed seven before falling to Gonzaga.
Since that season, Martin has won 17, 16 and 18 games, and Gamecocks are currently between 6 and 13 in the year. The Gamecocks could possibly have entered the 68 field last year as a bubble team before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the tournament. But the struggles in the past four years do not necessarily mean that a change is taking place.
In addition to the fact that South Carolina just bought the football coach Will Muschamp for a significant amount, Martin would be left with a $ 6.5 million debt in the event of his dismissal, according to Yahoo Sports, which makes the possible change more difficult. Athletic Director Ray Tanner recently talked about the team’s struggles and said there are issues, “under the hood”, that need to be taken into account.
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“I’m not trying to be defensive for them,” said Tanner. “I am just stating the facts that it has been a difficult season. If you’re going to simplify, it’s about the postseason game. You play in a conference that is extremely difficult, but at the end of the year you continue to play or not. … You have to look under the hood (when evaluating a season). It can’t just be (a spot in the NCAA Tournament) happened or it didn’t happen. You have to look under the hood. “