After lengthy review, USC AD Ray Tanner says Frank Martin is ‘our coach’

For nearly a month since South Carolina’s men’s basketball season ended, rumors of a potential coaching change have filled the local airwaves without a single public comment by coach Frank Martin or the university administration.

In that time, members of Martin’s 2017 Final Four team, women’s coach Dawn Staley and local politicians have all expressed support for Martin, calling on him to remain head coach. Martin and his staff continued to recruit during that stretch, as well, pulling in two transfer players just this week.

On Friday, USC’s silence on the matter finally ended. The school’s board of trustees approved a two-year extension for Martin, while also modifying Martin’s buyout agreement. And for the first time since the team’s season ended at the SEC tournament on March 11, athletic director Ray Tanner addressed Martin’s situation with the media.

Tanner acknowledged Friday that it would be “fair to say it was a lengthy review” of the nine-year Gamecocks coach, citing the unprecedented nature of a season during COVID-19 as a key reason for the delay.

“This was an unusual year with COVID,” Tanner said Friday. “We crowned a national champion in Baylor. There were a lot of teams that had really successful years, and others that were impacted in a lot of ways. We had a head coach that went through a physical challenge himself. We had 27 days of missed practice. We had a number of players that missed time. (Our program) was challenged at a time that maybe some other programs weren’t. We did take that into consideration.

“But at the end of the day, also it’s a year, but you go back and look at what happened in the last five years, as well. And there are some very positives under Coach Martin’s tenure here.”

While Tanner noted that the team has missed the NCAA tournament each season since 2017’s Final Four run, he pointed to the team’s recent finishes in the SEC. Before this season, Martin’s Gamecocks ranked third in the conference over the past five years with 51 conference wins.

Tanner also denied reports that the size of Martin’s $6.5 million buyout factored in the decision.

During a budget hearing at the South Carolina State House on March 25, state Sen. Darrell Jackson brought up the topic of athletic coach buyouts — specifically former football coach Will Muschamp’s $13 million buyout — as USC president Bob Caslen spoke about medical school funding. Jackson questioned why the school would pay a “coach not to coach” during a “challenging year for the school and athletics” financially.

Tanner, who did not attend that hearing, said Friday that Jackson’s comments didn’t factor into USC’s decision on Martin, and he said that Caslen never directed him to make a coaching change.

When asked why politicians and former players spoke out in the last few weeks in support of Martin, Tanner didn’t have an answer, saying fans, donors and politicians are entitled to their opinions.

The tweaks to Martin’s contract would appear to offer the school flexibility should it decide to move on for Martin in the subsequent seasons. Through the agreement, Martin’s buyout following the 2021-22 season lowers from a maximum of $3.3 million to a maximum of $3 million. After April 1, 2023, the university would not owe Martin a buyout should it decide to make a change in either of the final two years of the new deal.

Martin is slated to make $3.3 million in each of those two years — the same salary he’ll make in the 2022-23 season under his original contract terms. Despite the optics, Tanner said he didn’t view Martin’s buyout adjustment as a way to protect the university.

“I don’t look at it as protecting ourselves or anything other than this is a statement about our program and our commitment to basketball from this university,” Tanner said. “Coach Martin is our head coach, but you’re talking about a buyout situation that is a very good buyout, even still. You can look at comparatively some of the other buyouts around the country, and he remains with a very strong buyout.”

Tanner added that he didn’t believe the lengthy review hurt the basketball program, which has had four players enter the transfer portal and added two transfers since the season ended. Tanner referenced the more than 1,200 players in the transfer portal across the country and said he knows of at least 10 SEC programs that are dealing with similar situations.

Tanner said that he and Martin had several “direct” and “forthright” conversations over the last few weeks and that he believes his relationship with Martin will be “as strong as it’s ever been.”

Martin and the Gamecocks have work to do after finishing 6-15 (4-11 SEC) this season. The pandemic limited the Gamecocks in several ways, from shutting down team activities for much of December and January to losing key veterans for stretches of time and junior big man Alanzo Frink for the season. Martin tested positive for COVID-19 twice — once before the season and again during the season. Martin said the second case led to more severe symptoms.

At the end of the season, Martin said his hope was to remain in South Carolina and expressed confidence that he could get the program back on track next season.

“I fixed this program, and I know what’s not working this year, but the program ain’t broke,” Martin said. “So whenever I can hit the reset button, we fixed it once from a bad situation. We’ll fix it again.”

Tanner expressed a similar sentiment Friday as he looked toward next year. Tanner said he didn’t tell Martin directly that his status hinges on an NCAA tournament run next year, but he said the two talked in general about the importance of playing in the postseason.

“He’s done it before,” Tanner said. “He has had success in the past, and he’s had success here. When you look at the big picture, you go, ‘Well, there are not a lot of NCAA appearances on his resume.’ There was a Final Four.

“But there have been some really good years to that if you just looked at the the win-loss total and where you finished in the league, you would almost say, ‘Well, he was in the postseason that year,’ but it didn’t happen.”