Frank Martin Appreciation

[eaglegolf018]

I am going to laugh a little when we are good and the game threads explode. Last few years its been about the same 5 or 6 in there. But if there's people jumping on the bandwagon, that means we're doing pretty well.

[I Bleed Garnet]

Dear Frankie,

What's up? How are you feeling?
I know this season wasn't fantastic, but keep looking up bud. We doubled our SEC victories from last year and look to have a good recruiting class coming in. And look at the bright site, there's only 2 really good teams in this conference anyway so it will be a bit easier to advance up the ladder. But off basketball for a minute. Let's talk about what is on both of our minds, Pittbull. OMG I KNOW! He's my favorite too. How bout you and I hit up a show this summer? Maybe in Miami? Maybe we can dress in matching garnet blazers (what a great look for you). Okay if you insist we can take Bruce and Michael with us. Can't wait.

Sincerely,
IBG

[CoverTwo]

Can't wait for Johnson and Thornwell to turn this thing around. They are going to be one of the best backcourts in the SEC next season, and when you have a great backcourt you will win games.

[FanofCarolina1]

Originally Posted by eaglegolf018

I am going to laugh a little when we are good and the game threads explode. Last few years its been about the same 5 or 6 in there. But if there's people jumping on the bandwagon, that means we're doing pretty well.

It will be absolutely worth it when we can beat a SOCON team soundly.

[CockTail]

For those who have followed this program for decades, FM is God-sent. We finally have a coach who is not only a great coach but a great recruiter. We have had many coaches who were one or the other, but none has had the talent that FM has. It is Laughable that fans would judge him based on this team.

This year was a throw away season, he won't admit that but it is a reality. He had a combination of very young players and players who don't have the work ethic to to get better. I will not blame all of this on Horn, you can put it on the players, same players did this last year. If FM can't make them better as the season goes on, you need new players.

I would caution that next year is going to be a 15-20 win season. This roster still needs to be completely turned over, there are still several players on this team that are not SEC players. Recruiting will help, but this team will be very young again next year.

We need to stop worrying about building a team and worry about building a Program. That takes time.

[M.C.]

poor guy has alot of work to do..

look at his kstate team 11th nationally

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by M.C.

poor guy has alot of work to do..

look at his kstate team 11th nationally

Co-Regular Season Champs of the Big 12 as well.

[uscJustin06]

Originally Posted by AtlGAMECOCK

So I take it you were part of the fire spurrier squad when he wasn't doing well

Yeah i said that? FIRE FRANK!? No, read what I said. Let's give him some time to improve our team. I'd give him 4-5 years at least but I'm not going to go around making stupid appreciation threads when we got worse as the year went on. How come we were so competitive to begin the year and then the Florida game hit and we went right back into what we've done the last 4 years. I just was shocked to see the appreciation thread and the oooooooo thank your so much frank. For what? nothing's changed yet, things look the same.

[uscJustin06]

[quote=gamecock88;3707377]

Originally Posted by Spurticus

My ONLY regret regarding our hiring of Frank Martin is that he will have to
be saturated with Gamecock "FAN'S" comments questioning his ability to
coach for a couple of seasons until he gets this program on stable footing.
My...quote]


He may be the right man for the job but that's yet to be seen. I don't think anyone realistically expected great results this year with the players he had for his 1st year. One similarity I will say that Martin has with Horn is that his last school carried on and did quite well without him. Some guys can win at certain places and not at others. Time will tell if he has it to win here.

Edit: I think he is the right man. His fire and passion will bring a certain type of player that we need. The current guys we have aren't that. I'm still saying it's a 2-3 year project.

This is all I was saying. I'm glad someone here understands. What worries me is how similar we looked down the stretch to last year. We didn't look that way the first 16 games of the season. I was very excited and enjoyed watching all of our games until Florida and after. We hustled, we fought til the very end. That changed after the Florida game and we regressed, this gives me some "doubts" but according to some "fan's" i'm just a horrible fan that will scare martin off. Ask Frank if he thought he should be congratulated at this point, he knows we got work left to do and until HIS players are seniors and we still haven't started winning I would NEVER say fire frank.

[75CarolinaFan]

Originally Posted by gamecock88

One similarity I will say that Martin has with Horn is that his last school carried on and did quite well without him. Some guys can win at certain places and not at others. Time will tell if he has it to win here.

I think that's a silly point. JMO, no offense. I mean in football LSU carried on quite nicely after Saban left. La Tech has carried on quite nicely after Derrick Dooley left. Does that mean Saban and Dooley are comparable? In Saban's first year at Bama he went 7-6 and lost to Louisiana-Monroe. I guess there were probably Bama fans saying he could only win at certain places.

[Garnet girl]

Originally Posted by Spurticus

My ONLY regret regarding our hiring of Frank Martin is that he will have to
be saturated with Gamecock "FAN'S" comments questioning his ability to
coach for a couple of seasons until he gets this program on stable footing.
My biggest prayer for him is that he knows to ignore those who make the
comments and stay on course without allowing those comments to get
him discouraged.
If he does keep on the steady course, I'm sure he'll come out with the same
feelings of accomplishment that Ray Tanner did after winning his first of
back to back National Titles in Baseball, after having to endure "Those Fans"
who wanted him to step down at the end of the 2008 and 2009 season and
turn it over to a more youthful coach in Holbrook because he (Ray) had
taken this program as far as he could, and he was getting a little to old
for today's game.
The same for those who were constantly calling for Steve Spurrier to
retire at the end of the 2008 / 2009 season saying that Steve Spurrier
had past his prime and the game had gotten to fast for him. That was
right before he won his first Eastern Conf. Title and has since kept this
program constantly in the Top 10-15 the past 4 seasons.

Frank Martin is the right man for this job. He will get this program on the
right track. He will just have to wade through the negativity of our fans
until he gets there.

You just said that better than I could ever do. I am glad he is here.

[gamecockphan]

I believe that apathy, not negativity is Martin's greatest challenge. I don't know any fans who really care about the basketball team.

[CockTail]

Originally Posted by gamecockphan

I believe that apathy, not negativity is Martin's greatest challenge. I don't know any fans who really care about the basketball team.

You may be right, but fans have not had anything to get them excited about baskeball in a very long time. In the early to mid 70's basketball had the following that football and baseball have today. We have just been so bad so long, it is hard to buy in right now. If FM can build this program up, there is no reason we can not fill CL on big SEC games.

FM has a tough job ahead of him. Fans won't buy in until this team meets expectations. He will have to do much of the hard work while being largely ignored by the fan base, we have been disappointed for so long.

[thumpin big]

[quote=uscJustin06;3707855]

Originally Posted by gamecock88

This is all I was saying. I'm glad someone here understands. What worries me is how similar we looked down the stretch to last year. We didn't look that way the first 16 games of the season. I was very excited and enjoyed watching all of our games until Florida and after. We hustled, we fought til the very end. That changed after the Florida game and we regressed, this gives me some "doubts" but according to some "fan's" i'm just a horrible fan that will scare martin off. Ask Frank if he thought he should be congratulated at this point, he knows we got work left to do and until HIS players are seniors and we still haven't started winning I would NEVER say fire frank.

I agree that there was a change after the Florida game. I think that beating had a very negative effect on the entire team, some guys more than others. We seemed to lose our confidence, and I don't think we ever recovered it. And I think I saw it in the coaching staff as well, though I never heard any of the coaches talk about it.

[thumpin big]

Next season, I expect several more wins than they had this season. I also expect more people to show up for the games.

[CoverTwo]

Look, Frank Martin is about to totally flip the roster. He is still out there recruiting and he has USC in position to grab a few players before the deadline. If he grabs Demetrius Henry, he has an above average frontcourt to work with next year with a stronger Chatty, a hopefully healthy Geathers, Carerra, Ringer, and Henry. Then he has one of the most talented backcourts in the conference with Johnson and Thornwell. If he can find another scoring guard, he could put Thornwell at the 3. That is a really solid nucleus there.

A Chatty/Carrera/Thornwell/insert 2 guard/Johnson lineup can win games. The depth on the wings will be an issue but there will be some talent in the primary rotation.

I don't expect a miracle next year but I expect when ESPN analyst cover SEC basketball that they will be raving about our backcourt. Martin's K-State teams had great backcourts and he won't get it turned around here until those slots are taken care of first. He will find bigs that can rebound, block shots, and hustle. But he has got to solidify the 1-2-3 guard first and I think Johnson/Thornwell are going to be a great start.

[STEPHONGILMOREFAN!]

Originally Posted by CoverTwo

Look, Frank Martin is about to totally flip the roster. He is still out there recruiting and he has USC in position to grab a few players before the deadline. If he grabs Demetrius Henry, he has an above average frontcourt to work with next year with a stronger Chatty, a hopefully healthy Geathers, Carerra, Ringer, and Henry. Then he has one of the most talented backcourts in the conference with Johnson and Thornwell. If he can find another scoring guard, he could put Thornwell at the 3. That is a really solid nucleus there.

A Chatty/Carrera/Thornwell/insert 2 guard/Johnson lineup can win games. The depth on the wings will be an issue but there will be some talent in the primary rotation.

I don't expect a miracle next year but I expect when ESPN analyst cover SEC basketball that they will be raving about our backcourt. Martin's K-State teams had great backcourts and he won't get it turned around here until those slots are taken care of first. He will find bigs that can rebound, block shots, and hustle. But he has got to solidify the 1-2-3 guard first and I think Johnson/Thornwell are going to be a great start.

Could you imagine if leonard stayed and got it together and we had johnson and he at the guards and thornwell at the 3

[Gaichon]

Originally Posted by gamecockphan

I believe that apathy, not negativity is Martin's greatest challenge. I don't know any fans who really care about the basketball team.

I think the "give a damn" is there, its just buried in the fanbase due to the product we've put on the court. When I lived in Cola, I frequently went to games, and still follow closely. There are a lot of us out there who will be even more vocal when the program steps-up and it will. Martin was a slam-dunk hire.

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by gamecockphan

. I don't know any fans who really care about the basketball team.

I do

[cocknblue]

Originally Posted by Gaichon

I think the "give a damn" is there, its just buried in the fanbase due to the product we've put on the court. When I lived in Cola, I frequently went to games, and still follow closely. There are a lot of us out there who will be even more vocal when the program steps-up and it will. Martin was a slam-dunk hire.

This!