It's 'just a matter of time' before Chuck Martin is a head coach

Martin, who worked as one of the Hoosiers’ lead assistants under Crean, is entering his third season at South Carolina and Crean says the Gamecocks’ assistant won’t be an assistant for much longer.

“As I said to him, when he was with us at Indiana, I’d say the same thing: he’s a head coach,” Crean said. “It’s just a matter of time before he’s a head coach again. I would have hoped if we stuck together at Indiana it’d be from there. But now it'll be from South Carolina.”

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Martin came to Indiana after five seasons as Marist’s head coach and immediately showed an impact on the recruiting trail. He’d bring in future NBA players in OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan with the 2015 class.

After Crean and his staff were let go at Indiana, Frank Martin scooped him up and he started helping on the recruiting trail at South Carolina as well.

The Gamecocks signed four players in his first class, including potential first-round pick AJ Lawson, before signing what South Carolina thinks is a really good recruiting class this cycle.

South Carolina signed four high school players in the 2019 class that included two Rivals150 players in Jalyn McCreary (No. 135) and Trae Hannibal (No. 148).

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“He can recruit because he has a tremendous personality. He’s got empathy. He’s never met a stranger. He can teach, he can make you better and you want to be around him,” Crean said. “Whether you’re a player, whether you’re an adult, whether you’re a player, whether you’re a player of a recruit, you want to be around him. He has a lot of energy, he has a lot of personality and he has an impact.”

Martin spent three seasons with Crean and saw a really solid run at Indiana where the Hoosiers went to the NCAA Tournament in his first season before starting 17-0 in his second year with the program in a season that ended in the Sweet 16.

In two seasons in Columbia, he’s been a part of a staff that’s won 31 games, including a season last year where the Gamecocks started slow but finished 11-7 in the SEC, good for fourth in the conference.

“I evaluate him as a head coach. Recruiting is something he does but coaching is what he’s phenomenal at. We just saw his wife and boys a few weeks ago; they came through Athens when they were in Atlanta. His wife Lee and my wife Joani are best friends. I love Chuck Martin; he’s one of my closest friends.”

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The Gamecocks will have their annual tip-off even Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Boyd Plaza on Hampton Street. Admission is free and will include both men’s and women’s teams.

The men start their season with an exhibition Oct. 30 against Columbia International before their first regular season game Nov. 6 against North Alabama. Both will be at Colonial Life Arena.