COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
There are very few words to describe South Carolina men's
basketball coach Frank Martin's post-game comments after
his team's 18-point loss to the LSU Tigers.
As Martin thoroughly chews on a piece of candy in his mouth, he equally chews out his player's effort during post-game comments.
The anger on his face is palpable and his commentary is just as scathing.
"If you take Bruce Ellington off our team, you'd probably have the 12 leading candidates for the leading roles in the Return of the Living Dead. Whatever that movie was called. The zombie movie," said Martin.
"I've been doing this for 28 years, nine of which as a junior varsity high school coach -- that means I dealt with 14-year-olds -- I've never been more embarrassed to call myself a basketball coach than I am today."
The Gamecocks (12-12, 2-9 SEC) are currently on a five-game slide. While Martin carved up his team's effort for those loses, he continued to call his own coaching into question.
"I've always taken pride to get guys to do what I ask them to do, and right now, that's not happening. They didn't bring me here to create a bigger problem. They brought me here to fix a problem, and I'm not doing a very good job of that right now," said Martin.
Martin also decried a lack of passion and leadership on the team as two of the many glaring issues.
"My assistant coach who had to scout, Matt Figger, before the game, came over to me and said, 'I don't like what's happening right now,' before we walked out in the afternoon before the game, and I said, 'Why?' He said, 'The locker room's a morgue.' And that's exactly what it was," said Martin.
"If you've got no life for what you do, you shouldn't do it. If you've got no passion for what you do, you shouldn't do it. Right now, we're passionless, and we're lifeless."
As for the remaining schedule, Martin doesn't think the slide is over.
"If we somehow don't find the resolve to try and refocus our energy, into the good things, then Saturday won't be a good day either," said Martin.
The Gamecocks take on the Alabama Crimson Tide this Saturday at 4 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.
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