What Frank Martin said about the NCAA notice of allegations South Carolina received
Frank Martin came out Saturday night ready to speak about the NCAA notice of allegations the school received this week.
He spoke like a man resolute and confident in his program and his administration.
The notice alleged that former Gamecocks assistant coach Lamont Evans took money in the form of bribes in exchange for trying to sway former USC point guard P.J. Dozier and influence him to sign with a specific agency when he turned pro. It did not allege any wrongdoing by the school, head coach Frank Martin or any present staff.
What Martin said Saturday about the situation:
On if he’s worried if anything would reflect on the program of school:
“None. Absolutely. I’ve spoken on this before. None, absolutely zero. In moments like this, I would think that people would trust in leadership. And the guy that leads our program is as ethical a man as I’ve ever been around in Ray Tanner. I think you guys should know that better than me. And the people that I answer to, it’s all about ethics here. It’s all about doing things the right way. I would not be the basketball coach here right now if I had dipped my toe in the water, and I don’t do it anyways. That’s other people. If they choose to cross lines, that’s their life. I don’t do it.
“So, this is an isolated matter about a one-time visit between a guy that I brought into the business and the people that got trouble. It does not involve any of our student-athletes, does not involve our staff. If you read, it’s like everything else. If you just read the title of the book, you can rush the judgment. But if you actually read, there’s nothing, there’s no wording there that’s compatible with the wording used for the other schools.
“So, I’m, I’m at peace. I told you guys, I think, two years ago, I put my head on the pillow and I sleep like a baby because I know I don’t cheat and I don’t condone cheating. And I work for a man that doesn’t cheat and doesn’t condone cheating. Harris Pastides, who’s the guy that hired me here, who was my president until a year ago — he was the guy in charge of the national committee to set the rules and. And now President Caslen, I think we all know his background. The one time he addressed, our staff as a whole, he said don’t cheat because I’m not having a conversation with you if you do.
“I’m at peace. It is what it is. We’ll have our moment so the people that represent the University of South Carolina can speak. And I don’t want to say ‘defend ourselves.’ There’s a little snag there with Lamont, but we just need to express it and explain it and we’re not going to do that publicly, and I’m not going to be allowed to do it publicly, but that’ll be done by the appropriate people in the right time.”
If he’s talked to the NCAA about a timeline:
“Yeah, the administration handles that. They know I’m available to answer any questions to them, to the NCAA, whatever I’m asked to do. I’ll be there. Can you imagine, you guys have been covering this school, if I ever told Ray Tanner I’m not talking to him? How long do you think I’d be the coach here? Do you think I’d be answering questions today if we felt that we were condoning cheating in any way, shape or form? Or that players were involved in all this? At the end of the day, this campus is about the best interest of student-athletes. I was told that the day I walked onto this campus. That’s what I’m about.
“I wouldn’t be the coach here if I was trying to duck and weave and all that. When the time comes, if I’m asked, which I’ve been asked already, if I’m asked to speak, I’m more than happy to speak and express what what I know, what we’ve lived. But I’ve got unbelievable confidence in the people run our university and that’s why I coach basketball here.”
On if he spoke to P.J. Dozier, who was on hand for Saturday night’s game:
“PJ is available to speak to the leadership of our university on whatever is needed. Obviously, I’m just gonna tell you, P.J. had got nothing to do with anything. I don’t care what’s been reported. This is a Lamont Evans situation; it’s not a PJ Dozier situation. But all that will be expressed and explained at the appropriate time by the appropriate people, where it needs to be expressed. Not by me behind a microphone. I got confidence that everything’s good there.
“The second part, it’s not my place to judge what the FBI decides to do or not do. They’ve got a job to do, and they handled business the way they felt they needed to handle it. It’s not my place to say they should have done more, should have done less, they didn’t stand up for what they said or they did stand up for it. All I know is, it was sad. It was sad and there’s some people who were involved in that. And they’re good people, and they ended up serving time in jail and probably lost their careers. I said it when it happened. I don’t know if you remember the words I used. Everyone needs to get audited every once in a while. Our business got audited. I think we’re better off now.”
