Minutemen Coach talks New Season and Joe Mazzulla
Written by Joseph Medeiros
UMass Amherst’s Head Basketball Coach Frank Martin joined the night show with Joe Murray and talked about his team’s upcoming season, his path to getting the Amherst job, and an interesting Joe Mazzulla story you’ll want to hear.
Head Coach Frank Martin joined the UMass Amherst Basketball program in March 2022 after leaving the South Carolina Gamecocks. Martin has improved the team’s record every year he has been a part of the program, going from 13th in the conference in his first season to 4th last season.
In his interview with Joe Murray’s show, he detailed how excited he was for the new season, mentioning how UMass was fortunate to retain 7 players on his team. Martin showed his passion for coaching when he described and highlighted the importance of each of his new and returning players.
Rahsool Diggins was the first player Martin mentioned, and he was described as “the most improved player in the A10.” Diggins averaged 12.8 points per game coupled with shooting 36.8% from beyond the
One of the highlights of the conversation was when Joe Murray asked Frank Martin about Joe Mazzulla. Martin knew Mazzulla from his time in West Virginia and has the utmost respect for him.
A key quote from the interview is, “Joe would fight 2 grizzly bears just to see what the experience was like.” What coach Martin says perfectly describes fans’ view of Mazzulla and adds to the endless list of great quotes about the Rhode Island native.
Another highlight was when Coach Martin said, “I didn’t grow up a Celtics fan, but I respect the Heck out of the Celtics.” This shows the effect that Mazzulla has on fan’s perception of himself and the team.
After hearing coach Martin’s story of his time at Northeastern and how he met his wife, it became clear why Martin was eager to return to Massachusetts to coach. Martin has real roots in Massachusetts that will hopefully propel him to further the program.
Frank Martin began his coaching career at Miami High School, and after a brief stint away at North Miami High School in 1993, Martin’s return would see 3 consecutive state championships (1995-1998). There were some notable future NBA players on this team such as Udonis Haslem and Steve Blake.
After having success in high school, Martins would spend time as an assistant coach at Northeastern (2002-2004), Cincinnati, and finally, Kansas State where he would follow Bob Huggins in the 2006 season.
The Kansas State Wildcats named Frank Martin head coach in 2007 after the resignation of Bob Huggins. Martin would rack up a laundry list of accomplishments for the school: first win over a top 10 team in 3 years, beating rivals ranked 2 rivals Kansas for the first time since 1983, and first NCAA tournament berth since 1996.
Martin’s continued success would lead to a Big 12 Coach of the Year award in 2010, which he would back up with an elite 8 run in the NCAA tournament. Martin’s next move as a Head Coach would be to South Carolina in 2012.
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Martin’s time with the Gamecock’s would see some turmoil in the first 2 seasons but would show its peak from 2015-2017. The Gamecocks would beat #10 Marquette, #2 Duke, and Baylor en route to a close loss to Gonzaga 77-73. Martin would leave the Gamecocks in 2022 as the third-winningest coach in program history.
New England is not known for being an area where college sports are popular, considering professional sports have been extremely dominant. When John Calipari coached at UMass he emphasized reaching out to eastern Massachusetts and Boston to get more support for UMass, could we see Frank Martin do the same?
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