Martin, McDonald and Smith Receive Contract Extensions

The University of South Carolina Board of Trustees has approved the contract extensions of three of its head coaches and one assistant coach, it was announced today.
 
Head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin received a two-year contract extension, head men’s men’s golf coach Bill McDonald received a three-year contract extension, and head softball coach Beverly Smith received a three-year extension. All three are now signed through the 2024-25 academic year. In addition, assistant men’s basketball coach Chuck Martin received a one-year extension, taking him through the 2021-22 season.
 
Frank Martin will enter his 10^th season at the helm of the Gamecock program this fall. He holds a record of 153-134 at South Carolina, and led his teams to a .500 or better record in six consecutive seasons from 2014-15 through 2019-20. Martin’s 2016 squad matched the Carolina record for total wins in a season with 25, before the 2016-17 team made a historic run through March, setting a record with 26 wins, en route to the program’s first berth in the Final Four. The Gamecocks posted double-digit SEC victories four times from 2016-2020, and during the stretch, Carolina’s 51 conference wins matched Tennessee for the third-most behind only Kentucky (69) and Florida (54). The 2017 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, Martin has tutored eight Gamecocks to numerous postseason accolades, including four SEC All-Freshman Team honorees, five who have received All-SEC First or Second Team awards, two who received multiple appointments to the All-Defensive Team, two who have been named the SEC Sixth Man of the Year, the 2017 SEC Player of the Year in Sindarius Thornwell, and the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year in Chris Silva in 2018.
 
“After a thorough review of the basketball program and after meeting with Coach Martin, I met with President Caslen and recommended a two-year extension for Coach Martin, which was approved today by the Board of Trustees,” said Athletics Director Ray Tanner.
 
McDonald was named South Carolina head men’s golf coach in the summer of 2007 after one season as the Gamecocks’ associate head coach. He served in an interim head coach role for the spring of the 2006-07 season. During his interim tenure, McDonald helped South Carolina to the 2007 NCAA West Regional title, the first regional title in program history, and a T-11^th finish at the NCAA Championship.

In McDonald’s 15 years as head coach, the Gamecocks have won 24 tournament titles, making him the winningest coach in school history. A Gamecock has earned or shared individual medalist honors under McDonald 26 times, including four wins by Matt NeSmith and Keenan Huskey, three by Paul Woodbury and George Bryan IV and two each from Will Miles, Will Starke, Wesley Bryan and Caleb Sturgeon.
 
Carolina has seen its star rise again in the collegiate softball world, and head coach Beverly Smith has guided that process since arriving as head coach in July of 2010. She oversees all aspects of the program and works most closely on the field with the pitchers. As a head coach, Smith’s overall record is 352-234, becoming only the second Gamecock softball coach with over 300 career wins.

From 2013-19, Smith guided the Gamecocks to a program record seven-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Carolina was well on its way to its eighth-consecutive postseason trip in 2020 before the season was ended early due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. If the Gamecocks were to achieve a postseason berth in 2021, the consecutive trips streak would continue on to eight.

The Gamecocks have competed in the regional championship four-consecutive completed seasons (also a program record), while the 2018 team reached the program’s second-ever super regional.
 
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