New USC basketball coach retains K-State assistants
A week and a day after Frank Martin was introduced as South Carolina’s men’s basketball coach, he completed the move by announcing his coaching staff.
With former Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber named the new Kansas State coach, Martin retained his entire former coaching staff at K-State for his new position at USC. On Wednesday, he named Brad Underwood the associate head coach, Matt Figger an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and Lamont Evans an assistant coach. Andy Assaley has been hired as the director of operations, and Scott Greenawalt will serve as the team’s strength and conditioning coach.
“I’m about honesty and loyalty, and with those two words, I think you have trust,” Martin said. “With trust, now you can do your job. Those guys, I know them inside and out, and they know me inside and out. We’re about the same things. It’s their daily mission to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. None of them, or me, have anything selfish in our bodies. We’re all about building the program and it wouldn’t make me very much of a man if I got another opportunity and I left any of them behind.”
When Martin was promoted at Kansas State following the departure of former head coach Bob Huggins to West Virginia, Greenawalt, Assaley and Underwood all stayed with Martin on his staff. Figger was Martin’s first hire, and then he brought Evans in, who had just finished playing professionally overseas and had been coaching AAU basketball.
“We’re both from South Florida and I’d known him forever,” Martin said of Evans. “He was done playing and wanted to get into coaching, so I gave him an opportunity to come finish his degree at K-State as a 30-year-old manager, then he stayed as a graduate. When Dalonte Hill, which was the first defection from our staff, made the decision to go back to Maryland last spring, I was on the phone promoting Lamont for assistant jobs with friends. I said, ‘What am I doing here? I’ve got a guy that I’m willing to endorse for other people and everyone in our program respects — give him a chance.’ So that’s what I did.”
Martin said he was ecstatic to have his former staff join him in Columbia once each coach expressed interest in the opportunity. His staff reciprocated the joy, as in statements from the new staff, each coach said he was “excited” within the first four words.
Underwood and Martin will work with “bigs,” while Evans, a former point guard, and Figger will work with guards, though Martin said he works with both. When Martin was an assistant, he predominantly worked with post players, which he compared to USC football coach Steve Spurrier focusing on quarterbacks.
Greenawalt will be spending the most time with the players, since there are NCAA limitations on how much time Martin can spend training them in the offseason.
“He’s very specific to the individual,” Martin said. “He’ll come in and say this guy struggles at this, this and this, and we’ve got to get them better at these things. I might throw out suggestions based on what I see from a basketball standpoint with balance or footwork or just explosion or whatever. We exchange ideas. I’m into trust.”
Martin considers the coaching staff the most important part of a college basketball organization, as the assistant coaches have the most consistent interaction with the players. Martin said he lays down the groundwork of the rules and expectations, which the assistants maintain with the players.
Relationships are first on Martin’s agenda, he said, but when he gets pulled away for recruiting or other head coaching duties, trusting that the staff is committed to his vision is crucial.
“Everybody says, ‘How were you able to win those close games at K-State?’” Martin said. “It’s because of that unity, that trust, that belief that our staff has in one another. That permeates to our locker room and those players remain united, regardless of a hard game or tough loss. Those kids stay strong because of the unity of our staff.”