Fiery Martin New Gamecocks Hoops Head Coach

The University of South Carolina has announced former Kansas State coach Frank Martin as its new men’s basketball head coach.

A press conference started shortly before 11 a.m. to announce his arrival.

Martin replaces Darrin Horn who was fired on March 13 after four seasons and a record of 60-63.

Martin, who turned 46 on Friday, has quickly garnered a reputation as one of the most intense coaches in the country. His approach will be a noticeable change to that of the low-key Horn.

Martin reportedly earned more than $1.2 million in salary plus incentives this past season at Kansas State. He is expected to receive a sizable raise from that figure now that he is the head man at USC.

SC basketball has struggled since the Frank McGuire era ended in the 1970s, qualifying for the NCAA tournament just four times in nearly four decades and without a win in the tournament since 1973.

Martin will have his challenges. Located in the heart of ACC country, Martin will be competing against the likes of Duke and North Carolina for prized recruits in addition to SEC powers Kentucky and Florida. In addition, Martin will have to look outside the state for talent since South Carolina lacks the depth of basketball talent that exists in neighboring states like Georgia and North Carolina.

But, Martin has succeeded in such circumstances before. He was able to lure top talent to Manhattan, KS, hardly a destination spot. Not only was Martin able to bring in talent, he was able to win at Kansas State, a school without much in the way of basketball tradition and very much in the shadow of the Kansas University, which is a national power.

After taking over for former mentor Bob Huggins in 2007, Martin took Wildcat basketball to new heights. In 2010, K-State reached the Top 5 in polls and advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Butler. The following year, 2010-2011, Martin’s team began the year at No. 3 in the AP poll, the highest preseason ranking in school history. But the squad struggled for much of the season and needed a late surge just to make the tournament, where it won one game before exiting.

This year, many thought Martin’s team overachieved. Despite a number of departures by top players and being unranked to start the season, Martin was able to lead the Wildcats to a winning record in the Big 12 and a spot in the NCAA Tournament where the team won one game before bowing to Syracuse.

While Martin has a proven record on the court, he has had his share of controversies.

Appearing as a guest analyst this past weekend on CBS’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament, Martin seemed to say he had paid players while coaching high school basketball. He backed off that statement in his remarks to the media on Tuesday, saying that he became a father figure to many athletes and students in Miami.

As the head coach at Miami Senior High School he won three straight state titles. The last of those was vacated due to recruiting violations. Martin was fired as the coach, even though none of the wrongdoing was attributed to him.

Martin got back in to basketball and moved to the collegiate ranks in 2000 when he was hired at Northeastern. He later joined Huggins at Cincinnati and in Kansas State when Huggins moved there after being fired at Cincinnati.

At K-State, Martin quickly found the national spotlight, but not always for the right reasons. His confrontational approach has not always gone over well. In 2010, he struck a player during a nationally-televised game against Missouri. Martin quickly apologized and the player deemed the apology unnecessary.

Prior to the 2011-2012 season, three players transferred out of the K-State program for various reasons and one quit basketball entirely.

Martin spent much of his session with the media addressing questions about his persona and coaching style. He opened the press conference by talking about the importance of faith and family in his life. He also said he has made a concerted effort to repair his image, particularly with regard to his use of profanity during games.

Martin refuted the idea that he is overly negative in his style, saying “I’m the most positive person you’ll ever meet.”

He also said the key to his success (117-54 .689) has been to hold players accountable. The new Gamecocks coach said his teams will have an intensity that matches that of South Carolina Athletic Director Eric Hyman, who aggressively courted Martin in the past week.

Martin also shot down rumors that one of the reasons he left Kansas St. was because of a rift between himself and KSU Athletic Director John Currie.

Martin added that one of the reasons he decided to make the move to USC was because of the stable of coaches that includes Steve Spurrier, Ray Tanner and Dawn Staley.

Martin will be USC’s 32^nd men’s basketball coach.