South Carolina’s Frank Martin admits that he did a poor job as a men’s basketball coach last season. He also believes his track record shows that he knows how to change things.
“I have led poorly this year,” said Martin on Thursday of the Gamecocks’ 6-15 season, the worst result in his 14 years of coaching at Kansas State and South Carolina.
South Carolina never found its base, and Martin acknowledged that he couldn’t help his players get into the rhythm.
“We’ve got work to do, man,” he said. ‘What happened last year was unacceptable. I think I’ll bet on myself I’ll figure this out. ‘
The coronavirus pandemic certainly played a role. There were two program shutdowns over a 41-day period during which the Gamecocks only played twice and did not have a complete team to practice due to medical protocols.
Martin tested positive for COVID-19 twice since May, the second time as a more serious illness during South Carolina’s rest period in January.
Martin remains confident that he can stabilize things in the future. He’s done it before, he noted, taking a South Carolina team that was last in the SEC the year before his arrival in 2013 to the 2017 Final Four. previously on the NCAA tournament bubble in 2020.The pandemic canceled the event.
He was given some breathing space last week to make that possible with a two-year contract extension that will tie him to the program until the 2024-25 season. There was no pay rise. In addition, Martin’s $ 6.5 million buyout if he were released now would be reduced to zero if the school fired him after two more years.
‘Is it the contract I wanted? No, ”said Martin. “But if they didn’t want me here, they could have fired me.”
Martin said he had long, candid conversations with athletic director Ray Tanner, discussing why things went wrong last season. Tanner said he was sure Martin had a plan to fix things and recommended the principal, Bob Caslen.
“This was a decision I think we made collectively, which was the importance of the university,” Caslen said earlier this week.
The new contract came after South Carolina was given two-year probation in February for bribes accepted by former assistant coach Lamont Evans.
Martin will have a different roster to help him win again. Five members of the team, including fourth-year forward Justin Minaya, have entered the transfer portal.
The Gamecocks have added four transfers, led by 6-foot-3 guard Erik Stevenson, who will join his third Division I school after playing two seasons in Wichita State and last season in Washington.
Two starters and double-digit scorers, forward Keyshawn Bryant and point guard Jermaine Couisnard, go through the NBA draft process, but have not signed with agents. Martin said they both trained off-season and he expects them to come back.
The wait will be longer for last season’s top scorer, 6-foot-6 AJ Lawson, to decide his plans for 2021-22. He scored an average of 16.6 points per game in 2020-21. Since Lawson has been through the NBA draft evaluations for the past two seasons, Martin said he won’t have the option to come back this time if he decides to turn pro.
“He’s careful,” said Martin.
Martin disregarded speculation that he would be fired or that he was scanning the coaching openings for another job. He said he never intended to leave, but was using the past month to find out how to fix what went wrong.
‘I don’t get caught up in allusions. I don’t get caught up in false stories, ”he said. “This month has been frustrating for me because I haven’t done my job, not for anything else.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.