The man made a big swat at the rim.
Frank Martin was fired by the school on Monday.
Martin was on the hot seat for the last two seasons and even received a two-year contract extension last spring. Despite finishing 18-13 overall and 9-9 in the SEC this season, the school decided to move on from Martin after a decade in Columbia. The school made its first Final Four appearance under Martin, but he only made one NCAA tournament during his 10 seasons in charge.
South Carolina was 171-147 in Martin's time as coach. In the last four years, the Gamecocks have finished in the top half of the SEC in three of them, but have been below.500 in four of them.
Martin went to South Carolina after five seasons as the head coach at Kansas State, where he went to four NCAA tournaments and won at least one game in each tournament. He was an assistant coach at Kansas State, Cincinnati and Northeastern. As a high school coach in the Miami area, Martin began his coaching career.
The only trip to the Dance for South Carolina since 2004 was the NCAA tournament appearance.
Potential replacements include Cleveland State's Dennis Gates, Murray State's Matt McMahon, and former South Carolina star BJ McKie. Mike Boynton is an assistant coach at Oklahoma State who was an assistant at South Carolina. It is believed that the buy out of Boynton is prohibitive.
Sources say that South Carolina was the favorite for Jackson, a Columbia native. Jackson is considering Duke, North Carolina, Georgetown, and the G League.
The University of South Carolina has great facilities, a passionate fan base and we provide our student-athletes an outstanding experience. We will hire someone with a winning coaching history, who has the energy, passion, and commitment to excellence in all areas of the student-athletes experience.
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