Frank Martin reaffirms commitment to South Carolina, “If I’m wanted”
Frank Martin’s future at South Carolina is a hot topic this season.
The Gamecocks are 6-14, 4-12 in the SEC, Martin’s worst year since his second season with the Gamecocks in 2014.
Multiple outlets, including Yahoo and ESPN, have said Martin could be on the move this offseason (likely leaving USC, not USC firing Martin), but during his weekly press conference Tuesday, Martin shot down those rumors.
“This is home,” Martin said. “I’ve been here nine years. My family loves it here. I love it here.”
The ninth-year Carolina head coach has two more years left on his current contract, but made it clear Tuesday he won’t enter negotiations or talks with South Carolina’s administrators until the season is done.
“Anyone that knows me knows I don’t do contracts in the middle of the season,” he said. “That’d be like our players talking to people about transferring while the season’s going on. I’m not a hypocrite. I don’t do that.”
Martin took the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Tournament in 13 years back in 2017, when the team reached its first Final Four. But the team hasn’t been to a postseason since. His teams have won 17, 16 and 18 games.
“If I’m wanted, this is what I want to call home. You don’t live somewhere for nine years and invest yourselves in the community the way my family has tried to do, develop the friendships we have then run away from that. If you know anything about me, you know I fixed this program and I know what’s not working this year. But the program ain’t broke. Whenever I can hit the reset button, we fixed it once in a bad situation and we’ll fix it again.”
