March 27, 2012

Press Conference Quotes

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Frank Martin has been named the head men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, announced today by Gamecocks’ Athletic Director Eric Hyman. Martin becomes the 32nd head coach in the history of the South Carolina program, which enters its 105th season as a varsity sport in 2012-13.

Martin, 46, has spent the past five seasons as the head coach at Kansas State University, leading the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament four times, including a trip to the Elite Eight during the 2009-10 campaign when the squad won a school-record 29 contests. Martin’s Wildcats won at least 21 games in each of his five seasons at the helm, compiling a record of 117-54 (.684) under his direction. During that time, Kansas State posted a 50-32 (.609) record in Big 12 Conference games, finishing fifth or higher in each season, while finishing third or higher three times. Martin was the first Wildcat head coach to post a 20-win season in each of his first five seasons and the first coach to guide the school to the postseason in his first five years at the helm. In all, Martin has helped coach four All-Americans since he became coach in 2007.

During his first season as a college head coach during the 2007-08 campaign, Martin led his squad to a 21-12 overall record and finished third in the Big 12 with a mark of 10-6 in league contests. The third-place finish by the Wildcats was the program’s best finish since the inception of the league. The squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and Martin led his team to the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since the 1988 campaign.

The 2008-09 squad earned an at-large bid to the Postseason NIT, and his 2009-10 team followed with one of the best seasons in program history, compiling a school-record 29 wins, en route to the program’s first NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance in over two decades. Martin was the runner-up for the Associated Press’ National Coach of the Year award in 2010, while he was a finalist for the Naismith Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year and the CollegeInsider.com’s Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year awards. He earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors that season from the league’s coaches, the AP and Sporting News among others.

The 2010-11 team posted the fourth 20-win season under Martin, as the squad collected an overall record of 23-11, including a 10-6 mark in league play (tied for third). The team also advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s third round, the squad’s third appearance in the Tournament under the fourth-year head coach. The team struggled through the early portion of the Big 12 campaign, dropping five of its first seven league contests. The team rallied to close the season, however, posting wins in nine of its last 11 regular-season contests.

Martin’s 2011-12 squad posted an overall mark of 22-11 and once again advanced to the NCAA Tournament third round. The NCAA selection marked KSU’s school-record sixth-straight season with a postseason berth and fifth under the direction of Martin. The Wildcats posted a 10-8 mark in Big 12 play to finish fifth, which made Kansas State and cross-state rival Kansas as the only Big 12 schools to receive a bye into the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in each of the last six seasons (five under Martin).

Before his appointment as head coach at Kansas State, Martin served one season as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at the school for then-head coach Bob Huggins during the 2006-07 campaign. He helped coach two all-conference players that season and helped KSU post one of the nation’s top recruiting classes in 2006, as the group was ranked No. 1 by Scout.com and Rivals.com. The class included the nation’s No. 1 recruit in Michael Beasley and No. 6 Bill Walker.

Martin first joined the Kansas State staff after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Cincinnati. He first served as an assistant for Bob Huggins during the 2004-05 campaign, and then for Andy Kennedy in 2005-06. The Bearcats advanced to the postseason in both of those seasons, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2005. Martin’s first college coaching position came as an assistant at Northeastern (2000-2004), where he helped coach eight all-conference players.

Prior to his time on the sidelines in the college ranks, Martin spent 15 years in high school coaching in Miami, Fla., including the last seven as a head coach. He was part of five state championships as an assistant at Miami Senior High School (1985-93), before earning two titles as the program’s head coach (1995-99). Highlighting Martin’s stint as the head coach of the program were consecutive 30-win seasons and consecutive Florida 6A State Championships in 1996 and 1997, with his 1997 squad earning a 36-1 overall record and ranking No. 4 in the USA Today Top 25 Poll. He helped develop 14 players that went on to play NCAA Division I basketball, while all 21 of his players graduated with 19 of those attending college.

Martin also served as the head coach at North Miami Senior High School (1993-95) and spent one season at Booker T. Washington High School (1999-2000).

A native of Miami, Fla., Martin earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Florida International in 1993. He and his wife, Anya, have three children, Brandon, Amalia and Christian.

Coaching Experience:

Miami Senior High, 1985-93
Varsity Boys’ Assistant Coach
Junior Varsity Boys’ Head Coach
North Miami High, Head Coach, 1993-95
Miami Senior High, Head Coach, 1995-98
B.T. Washington High, Head Coach, 1999-2000
Northeastern, Assistant Coach, 2000-04
Cincinnati, Assistant Coach, 2004-06
Kansas State, Assistant Coach, 2006-07
Kansas State, Head Coach, 2007-12

All-Time Record, Big 12 Record (Big 12 finish), Postseason: