In his introductory press conference, new South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin admitted that he would describe his public persona as “difficult.”
Taking the podium in the room named after one of the greatest coaches in South Carolina’s history, Frank McGuire, Martin’s marriage to the program made sense, as the road returning men’s basketball to its glory days will be “difficult.”
“I love challenges,” Martin said. “Some people run away from challenges. I run to challenges. I’ve been doing it my whole life. It’s what I’m excited about.”
Martin had no challenge winning over the Gamecock faithful, as he was welcomed with a standing ovation and a six-year, $12.3 million contract approved just minutes before the official announcement of his hiring came.
Martin’s contract also includes incentive-based compensation depending on the number of wins the team has in certain years or if it reaches certain levels of completion, such as the NCAA Tournament or the SEC Tournament championship. There are also incentives for the status of the team’s NCAA Academic Progress and ticket sales.
South Carolina will also pay the $1 million buyout that Martin owes Kansas State, while if Martin is terminated early from USC, he will be owed 66 percent of his remaining contract. After firing former USC basketball coach Darrin Horn, USC owed Horn $2.4 million for the remaining three years on his contract.
However, it wasn’t payment to Martin that was a focus on his first day of the job, but rather, his perceived payment to others.
As a studio analyst for CBS during the NCAA Tournament Saturday, Martin’s comments about paying former players when he was a high school coach were nationally scrutinized. He was vocal in his disappointment that university administration suspended Kansas State’s Jamar Samuels against Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament because he allegedly received money from an old Amateur Athletic Union coach.
“I coached 16 years in the same inner city in Miami that I grew up in,” Martin said on CBS, according to a transcript of the appearance published by the Kansas City Star. “Do you know how much money I sent to kids that played for me in high school when they were in college because I knew where they came from, I knew they didn’t have a father figure? I’m not going to tell you who they were, but I sent them a lot of money over the years to make sure they could take their girlfriend out to the movies, make sure they could wash their clothes and do all the things that scholarship money don’t cover.”
Athletics Director Eric Hyman said Martin’s comments were something he had to get clarified with Judy Van Horn, who headed the compliance department when former compliance director Jennifer Stiles was demoted. According to Hyman, Martin’s comments were in reference to a pre-existing relationship.
Anticipating questions, Martin addressed his comments in his opening statement.
“I made some comments about my experience as a high school coach,” Martin said. “The next day the headlines say, ‘Frank Martin pays players.’ That’s not what I said. We have to understand I spent 16 years of my life coaching high school basketball as a school teacher in the same inner-city communities I grew up in. There were cheerleaders, band members, kids in my math class who played for me that I became their father figure, just like teachers at that school were my father figure growing up because I didn’t have a father at home.
“When those kids took the next step to get to college, they didn’t have $5 when they got to college. Our relationship was so strong that they had to come to myself or different administrators in the school building because we were their family. [Their relatives] depended on us to help them raise that child. Those are the values of America and the school system that have gone away ... I don’t like that things are used in a way that’s different than it’s meant. I never paid a player in my life.”
Martin didn’t get to meet his new stable of players until the morning before the official introduction, but said the first meeting was brief and just a “get to know each other deal.” But just a few hours after his job started, Martin suffered his first loss of the season, as point guard Bruce Ellington participated in football spring practice.
USC coach Steve Spurrier said Ellington made the decision to play both sports, meaning he would miss most of the nonconference basketball season in playing football.
On a conference call, Martin said the decision was solely up to Ellington. His intent was to better get to know Ellington and help guide him in the decision-making process so he could come to a choice that “gives him a peace of heart and a sane mind.”
With the Ellington decision seemingly in the past, Martin will turn toward building a team that has only one recruit for the next season and could see current players transfer. As Martin said, the career move is a challenge, but one that suits him.
“It was more of a one-sided conversation — I did most of the talking,” Martin said. “Twenty minutes in front of them is not going to allow me to understand them and to understand what they want from me. Like I told them, it’s my duty to get them to believe in me and to trust me. I don’t expect them to sit there and trust me just because I’ve been hired. Now is when my job starts -— to put my arms around those kids and to get them to believe in me.”