Chuck Martin expected to round out John Calipari's staff at Kentucky

Oregon assistant coach Chuck Martin has emerged as a likely addition to round out John Calipari’s staff in Lexington, multiple sources tell KSR.

The NCAA voted to approve an increase of two coaches in men’s and women’s basketball, who will be allowed to engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus. That rule is set to take effect starting July 1, paving the way for five on-court assistant coaches in Martin, Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman, John Welch and Bruiser Flint at Kentucky.

Conversations between Calipari and Martin first began in the spring. An announcement regarding his official addition is expected sooner rather than later.

Jeff Goodman previously reported that Martin was the “frontrunner” to join Calipari’s staff.

The 53-year-old native of Puerto Rico was with Coach Cal in Memphis from 2006-08, one of eight stops he’s made as a coach dating back to 1999. He started his career at Seton Hall (1999-2000) before coaching at Drexel (2001-04), St. John’s (2004-06) and Memphis (2006-08) as an assistant. After a four-year stint as the head coach at Marist from 2008-12, he then made stops at South Carolina (2017-22) and Oregon (2022-present) again as an assistant.

He holds a career 41-118 overall record as the head coach at Marist.

Martin’s anticipated addition comes following the hire of John Welch, a longtime NBA assistant and father of former walk-on and grad assistant Riley Welch, this offseason. Those moves come following the departure of KT Turner, now the head coach at UT-Arlington.

1999–2000	Seton Hall(assistant)
2000–2001	Umass (assistant)
2001–2004	Drexel (assistant)
2004–2006	St. John’s (assistant)
2006–2008	Memphis (assistant)
2008–2012	Marist (head coach)
2017–2022	South Carolina (assistant)
2022–present	Oregon (assistant)