Gamecock commits react to Martin turning down Cincinnati interview

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

It’s been a tumultuous few hours for Frank Martin, who had his name surface for the Cincinnati head coach job only to pull his name out of the running less than 24 hours later.

The stretch spanning Thursday night into early Friday afternoon was hectic for not only him, but for South Carolina’s 2019 recruiting class, which was just as stressed as some of the fans waiting to hear the news.

“When I heard the rumors I was a little shook. I was pretty shocked just to hear the coach that recruited me was up to have another coaching job,” Trey Anderson said. “To hear he declined the interview, that just makes me more excited. That makes me realize he wants to be a part of what we have going on for the next couple years.”

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Martin was initially reported as a key target in Cincinnati’s search, according to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman. Martin told Goodman Friday he opted to not even interview with the Bearcats despite spending two seasons there at the start of his college career as an assistant under Bob Huggins.

It wasn’t the first job Martin’s been linked to this offseason, two years removed from taking the Gamecocks to unprecedented heights with a Final Four run.

His name surfaced this year in regards to the UNLV opening, but Martin said earlier in the offseason he hadn’t even talked to the Runnin’ Rebels about the vacancy and didn’t have interest at the time.

Because of that previous dust up, Trae Hannibal knew this round of rumors wouldn’t be any different, although he did admit to getting a little bit of a “jitterbug” before Martin eventually turned down the interview.

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“He’s loyal to us,” Hannibal said. “That just shows how he is and what type of person he is. Any other type of dude would have chased the money, but this shows Frank cares about South Carolina.”

Martin is a big reason all four signees in the Gamecocks’ 2019 class chose South Carolina and with everything happening over the last few days they were hoping their head coach would be there when they arrived on campus this summer.

“I just hoped he wouldn’t leave,” newest commit Jalyn McCreary said. “A big part of my commitment was wanting to be coached by him. He coaches hard, and I want that. I’m happy he decided to stay.”

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Martin comes into what, at least this early, looks like a really good situation for next season with the Gamecocks returning three starters, getting Justin Minaya off an injury, incorporating Jair Bolden into the fold after a transfer year and bringing in a class the coaching staff is very excited about.

It’s still early and the 2019-20 season is still five months from starting, but the team’s signees think next year has the makings to be pretty special with Martin returning.

“I definitely we could shock a lot of people,” Anderson said, “definitely.”