South Carolina Coach Frank Martin Rips Team After Loss To LSU

Frank Martin is a brilliant basketball coach, that is the reason the South Carolina Gamecocks were so excited they were able to get him to leave Kansas State and take over their program.  But his first year hasn’t been easy for the 46 year-old coach, Thursday night he decided to voice his frustrations in his team after a 64-46 loss to LSU at home.

Martin started his press conference talking about pride and the lack of the desire in his team to play.

“I’m a lot of things, but I’ve got pride. And I’m just telling you, I’m doing this (press conference) right now out of respect to you (reporters) and your jobs and because it’s part of my job. But I have never been so embarrassed. I shouldn’t coach basketball ever again if this is how my team plays.”

Frank Martin just delivered a legendary, 11-minute ripper of a press conference. Completely shredded his team.

— Darryl Slater (@DarrylSlater) February 15, 2013/a>

 

The Gamecocks lost the rebounding battle against LSU 43-29. They also allowed sophomore forward Johnny O’Bryant to score 30 points. With those two stats alone it is hard to beat a team. Their seemed to be a lack of motivation, at least in the eyes of Martin, to play.

In Martin’s eyes there is only a few players on his team who came to play Thursday night. One being junior guard Bruce Ellington, who ended up with nine points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. The other was freshman forward Michael Carrera, who had eight points and eight rebounds. Their stats were not spectacular, but Martin new they tried.

One reporter even asked Martin if he had lost this team, his answer was quick and clearly a message to his players.

“If I’ve lost them, then they better disappear, because it’s going to be hard for them to be here next year if I’ve lost them 10 months into the job. You’ve got to ask them that question. I haven’t lost Bruce. I can tell you that. I haven’t lost Michael Carrera, even though he’s a freshman and he runs around like a chicken with his head cut off half the time and doesn’t know what’s happening. But outside of those two guys, if I had lost them, then they better figure out where home is at, because obviously, it’s not going to be here.”

Coach Martin has passion and he has pride for what he is doing. He obviously isn’t liking what he is seeing in his team and is demanding they change. He didn’t yell in the press conference, in fact he was very clam. He came to South Carolina so that he can make a run in the tournament. This is only his first year at the university and things take time, but to not have players that want to learn from you and listen to what you are saying must be frustrating.

As he said in his press conference, “If pride isn’t in your vocabulary, you will not be successful.” The Gamecocks coach has the pride to be successful, will his players hear the call and respond…that is the question.

South Carolina has a quick turnaround, as they play Alabama on the road Saturday afternoon.

 

Follow Jon Hancock on Twitter @JonKYSportsco.