South Carolina basketball: Pete Thamel discusses Frank Martin’s future

Will Frank Martin part ways with South Carolina basketball?

The South Carolina basketball season has not gone according to plan in 2021, with the Gamecocks currently sitting at 6-13 (4-11) on the year with just one game remaining. Entering the season as a projected NCAA Tournament team, Frank Martin’s group started slow and never regained the ability to get back on track.

“It’s one of those years,” said Martin following Tuesday’s 28-point loss to Arkansas.

The Gamecocks returned nearly everyone from a squad that was on the NCAA Tournament bubble a season ago, but the results have been drastically different. Some of that, undeniably, has been a product of COVID, which caused the team to miss the entire month of December, as well as matchups early in the conference portion of the schedule. That time missed cost the team a sense of stability, as the Gamecocks were forced to miss practice time and compete throughout conference play at less than full strength.

But COVID can’t take all of the blame for the team’s poor performance, and Martin, himself, acknowledges that their are other issues in the locker room that have contributed to season’s challenges.

"“We have are lot of guys who are playing for ‘me’ and not ‘we.’ That’s unfortunate. We’ve got to continue to try to figure it out because a year ago with basically the same personnel that was never the case. This has just been a confusing year all the way around and it has caught me off guard. I didn’t expect some of this that we’ve been dealing with and I’m not talking about COVID.”"

These issues have to fall on the coaching staff, as it appears that veteran players are not buying into what Martin is trying to teach on the court. The team often looks uninspired, which has resulted in South Carolina losing eight conference outings by double figures. The Gamecocks go through extended scoring droughts, play lackluster defense, and seem to falter every time they appear to turn a corner. It’s got fans and media, alike, questioning whether or not Martin will be in Columbia come this time next year.

And folks around the program are not just pointing to this season as to why Martin’s future is in jeopardy. Since his 2017 run to the Final Four, Martin’s teams have posted win totals of 17, 16, and 18. This season will be the worst of his tenure.

The staff was unable to capitalize on the recruiting trail after the NCAA Tournament run, and the program has been unable to reach postseason play over the last three campaigns. Barring a miracle run in the SEC Tournament next week, that will hold true for a fourth consecutive year in 2021.

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports recently gave an update on Martin’s tenure, saying that his future with the Gamecocks is ‘muddled.’

"This will be the fourth consecutive year for Martin missing the NCAA tournament at South Carolina, and he’s gone just once in his nine seasons there. Martin has twice suffered from COVID-19 during this trying season, making it tricky to grade South Carolina’s 6-13 record.That lone NCAA trip at South Carolina resulted in a Final Four bid in 2017, which was euphoric and historic. But the euphoria has worn off and that Final Four run is becoming a distant memory, even if it did deliver four of the six NCAA wins in program history. At 4-11 in the SEC, the Gamecocks’ only dollop of relevance this season came when the NCAA hit the program with two years of probation for the actions of former Martin assistant Lamont Evans."

There are programs that Martin’s name has been linked to, in particular, New Mexico. But Thamel touches on the hefty salary that would come along with hiring the current Gamecock coach away from South Carolina.

With a pay rate of $3 million per year, it’s highly unlikely that a program would match or exceed that number to lure him away from Columbia given his recent track record. Martin’s contract also puts the South Carolina athletic administration in a bind, as he’d be owed $6.5 million should he be fired at season’s end.

Can the Gamecocks afford to pay that buyout just a couple of months after the Will Muschamp debacle, and the recent hiring of a new football staff? Will athletic director Ray Tanner be asked to make another hire at all, as his stint in Columbia could be coming to an end soon, too?

"Martin has always been a popular name bandied around in other searches, and there will be inevitable chatter at New Mexico and DePaul this year. But Martin makes more than $3 million per year, and there are few jobs that pay in that neighborhood that would welcome his performance. The uncertain future of South Carolina AD Ray Tanner further muddles Martin’s future, as Tanner isn’t expected to be around close to the nearly three years he has remaining on his deal. South Carolina just hired Shane Beamer in football and linked him with an AD who isn’t expected for the long haul. Can they do the same in basketball?"

There are many questions left to be answered as the season comes to a close. For now, Martin remains the head coach of the South Carolina basketball program, but how long that future lasts is unknown.