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MBB historic perspective and Martin

grippercock

Well-Known Member
Gold Member
Nov 26, 2001
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I have always heard how bad our history and tradition have been and how the overall lack of success has punished our mens BB program over the years so I thought I would do some research, see what I can find and I am passing that along.

Our winningest coaches with at least 5 seasons since 1940 are as follows:
Frank McGuire 283 - 142 (1964 to 1980) 16 seasons
Frank Johnson 174 - 175 (1940 to 1943 & 1946 to 1958) 15 seasons ( I had never heard of this guy)
Dave Odom 128 - 104 (2001 to 2008) 7 seasons
Eddie Fogler 123 -117 (1993 to 2001) 8 seasons
Bill Foster 92 -79 (1980 to 1986) 6 seasons
George Felton 87 - 62 ( 1986 to 1991) 5 seasons

When you look at the history closely you start to realize that we only had any sustained success from one coach, Frank McGuire. As mind boggling as this may be, we have to be the only program in the country who's second most winningest coach has a LOSING RECORD!!!! WTH!! I wouldn't have believed that if I had not seen it with my own eyes. That really is astonishing.

Since 1945, we have had 13 head coaches, only 5 of those coaches had winning records. That is kind of hard to believe as well with those same coaches making their own schedules. Of the more recent coaches Fogler was here for 8 seasons out of those 8 only 3 were winning seasons. However, two of those were the best seasons we have ever had in the SEC. Odom won more games than Fogler and Fogler was coach for eight years and Odom only had seven years as coach. Fogler's SEC record was 57 - 71, which was respectable when compared to Odom's 41 - 71 SEC record. In 8 seasons, Odom never had a winning record in SEC play. Before Frank Martin was hired we had been in the SEC for 21 years. Of those 21 years we only had 3 seasons with a winning record in league play. Martin hasn't had one yet but his tenure isn't over yet. Overall, we have not won an NCAA tournament game since 1973. WTH?

What is equally astonishing is we have only made the NCAA tournament 4 times in the last 42 years!! Once per decade is Unbelievable!!

We weren't great to begin with but the Horn hire was a killer for our program. Horn is the only coach since Steve Newton to have an overall losing record since the McGuire era. There's more but I don't have any more time for this post. However, the point that I am making is that good or bad Frank Martin is our coach and we need to support him and the other coaches and players as long as they are here.

It should be obvious to those with an open mind that turning around MBB is goint to take some extra time. We have obsticles to overcome that most programs don't have to deal with. Our history is horrific and our tradition is non-existent. Repairing the damage that has been done by Horn and all the years of futility just can't be fixed in 3 to 5 years. Additionally, with the way recruiting is today talented kids are looking all over the country for their best fit. Just because a kid grew up in SC and is a talented player doesn't really mean much as far as giving SC or Clemson any real advantage. UNC, NC State, Kentucky, Duke, Tenn, G Tech, UGA, Wake, UF, UVA, G Town, Syracuse, Pitt, Vandy, all these schools and more are going to come hard at players from SC if they are talented. We got lucky with PJ Dozier because he already had a connection to USC and close to home. That won't happen very often.

On the recruiting trail all we really have is our coach because the program doesn't bring any tradition or prestige. We have to have a coach who is a known quantity. Frank Martin has that. Some don't like his style but he is very well known in the business and with high school players and coaches. We hired a no name, up and coming guy in Horn and we all know how that went. Martin is starting to build some recruiting momentum with PJ Dozier and Silva. If he can sign add a quality big and a shooter, this class would be very promising and would give the program some momentum going forward. The program needs to be supported instead of constantly being torn down by impatient fans who want to see miracles. You build a program brick by brick by continuing to bring in pieces and improving. FM asks a lot from these guys. They have the highest GPA on record which doesn't necessarily help with wins and losses but it is an indicator of how FM is building this program and what kind of guys he is recruiting. Spurrier built the FB team the same way. He likes high character guys. Personally, I like this appraoch because it is a long term approach and not a quick fix.Out of time!
 
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