yep. He'd won 4 straight OVC Championships when we hired him. Seemed like a sure thing on paper. Could not recruit any significant players to come here.
To me, he looked like an aging Baptist preacher who was comfortable pastoring a fading country church. Maybe if that kid from Memphis (?) who turned out to be a hoodlum had actually come here, he might have gotten things rolling better than what he did.
and he was only 50 when we hired him but coaching for USC seems to age coaches before their time. Frank Martin is only 55 and he looked ancient this past season, much different than he looked when he was hired here.
To be fair, two bouts with Covid put about 10 years on him - maybe more than that internally.
He probably needs the rest away from coaching for a little while. He should take a year off to work on his health.
Martin is actually pretty good as a tv analyst. He should maybe do that for a few years and weigh his options. We needed a change but I hope the best for him going forward.
I think he will be very successful somewhere else. The job here is a difficult one and it's really not the coach's fault. It's the basketball culture in South Carolina. Kids just don't grow up with an affinity towards our basketball program. They all dream of playing for the blue blood programs and when they are good enough to get that opportunity they jump at it.
Not sure a Tanner debacle. But if a coach had a choice between USC and LSU I think LSU wins hands down.
Steve had one major problem he couldn’t shake arriving in Cola…. The brillcream….course low state folks loved it.
