In a lot of aspects of life, especially when he’s hiring a new coach for his staff, Frank Martin is all about balance and all about fit.

So when he was having conversations—he doesn’t use the word interview—with potential candidates, it’s why Will Bailey stood out to him and it’s for those two reasons why Martin thinks he’s a “perfect fit” and it’s why he hired Bailey as the newest piece to the coaching staff.

“In our conversations it was reinforcing he was the right fit. He has a great heart. He’s all about helping the staff. He’s not a self-promoter. He’s not into trying to get people to give him credit for being the ultimate recruiter. He wants us to win and wants the players we recruit to be great,” Martin said. “He’s a perfect fit.”

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Martin and Bailey have known each other for a while through a mutual coaching friend in Andy Kennedy, who was an assistant at UAB when Bailey played before going on to coach with Martin at Cincinnati.

Bailey gives the Gamecocks another unique voice in the room, coming in as a coach with experience coaching guards but he does a few things differently than the other guys on staff—Bruce Shingler and Chuck Martin—which was important for Martin.

It also gives the Gamecocks a recruiter who can go into different areas of the country they’re not necessarily recruiting as hard as some others at the moment.

“He’s a Chicago guy, so he gets us into that area of the country. Being for the last four years in St. Louis, that’s an area in the Kansas City or St. Louis pocket because of my time there we need to commit the time there to recruit the area. He spent time in New England so he’s tied into the prep schools up there. He spent time at East Tennessee State so he’s recruited our pocket here that western North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina pocket,” Martin said.

“A large number of our students are coming from the Northeastern seaboard. I think to keep recruiting that area is intelligent for us.”

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Before coming to South Carolina Bailey was at St. Louis for four seasons where he was a part of a staff that won 23 games in back-to-back seasons, won the Atlantic 10 tournament in 2019 and won 20 conference games over two seasons.

He also spent time at La Salle, ETSU, Maine and Chicago State where he’s done a lot of winning as well with five NCAA Tournament appearances, including going to the Sweet 16 with La Salle in 2013.

In his work with guards, he’s developed a few noteworthy guys, most notably Javon Bess, the A-10’s Defensive Player of the Year who’s now in the NBA’s G-League.

“We have tremendous respect for his loyalty, how committed he is to the places he’s worked at and he’s just an awesome partner everywhere he’s been,” Martin said. “I think he’s a perfect fit for our staff. I’m excited about that.”