Basketball Featured

Everybody loves South Carolina's Frank Martin

By Jason Romano Mar 30, 2017

Frank Martin is everywhere. The head coach of South Carolina has become the darling of this NCAA tournament. His players, the fans, the media, everybody loves Frank Martin. His epic press conferences have become the stuff twitter dreams are made of.

The man who grew up the son of Cuban political exiles, living in Miami, has seen his life on display these past two weeks at the NCAA Tournament. As a 7-seed, his Gamecocks have beaten Marquette, Duke, Baylor and Florida to help catapult this squad to their first ever Final Four. With every win comes added publicity about a man who once wrote 120 letters to college coaches looking for a job and only received one response back.

Frank Martin is the guy who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. His quote on adults and kids and how they’re viewed and treated went viral over the past week. “We demand less of kids. We expect less of kids. We make their lives easier instead of preparing them for what life is truly about. We’re the ones that have changed.”

A young reporter from Sports Illustrated for Kids asked him a question and the coach didn’t miss the opportunity to praise the young man.

When you are placed on a stage such as the NCAA Final Four, there are more eyeballs on you. There are more people that want to share your story. There are more people that want to talk to you. With Frank Martin, that attention has allowed us to get to know a man who worked his tail off to get to this moment.

“Two weeks ago I walked into the press room, and there were five guys sitting in there,” Martin told ESPN. “Now it’s wall to wall in there, and in Arizona it’s going to fill a football stadium. This is the biggest stage our sport has to offer. You know what? If some folks hear the story of this team or hear my story and can get something from that, great. But I’m just Coach Frank, man. We’ve got two games to win.”

Frank Martin says he’s just a coach who wants to win two more games, but he’s much much more than that. He’s the big man in the big suit, known for his fiery and intense demeanor. Pay attention to Frank Martin before, during and after this weekend’s game. You’ll be glad you did.