Do Gamecocks’ hires since McGuire tell us anything about current search? A closer look

After the firing of Frank Martin on Monday, a South Carolina basketball program that has long sought a measure of consistent success is trying to find a known quantity to shape an unknown future.

Various South Carolina administrations have landed bigger-name coaches through the years, and the directions of those hires can perhaps shed some light on what comes after Martin’s decade at the helm. A few facts:

▪ Seven coaches have held the position of Gamecocks head coach since Frank McGuire was pushed into retirement in the late 1970s. (That’s not counting the three-day tenure of Bobby Cremins.)

▪ Of those seven coaches, six were active, full-time head coaches at other programs when they came to USC. Four of those came in from Duke, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and Kansas State.

▪ Two were hired after successful stints at mid-major programs.

▪ One was a promising assistant coach when he was hired to coach the Gamecocks.

Here’s a closer look at the South Carolina tenures of those seven coaches since McGuire.

Bill Foster

Six seasons (1980-81 to 1985-86)

His background before USC: Foster had been a longtime head coach, helping four programs — Bloomsburg State, Rutgers, Utah, Duke — find success. He led the Blue Devils to an NCAA title game and an Elite Eight in his last three years before departing and being replaced by a young coach named Mike Krzyzewski.

How he did at USC: Foster went 93-79 in his six season. His third season saw a 22-9 record and a trip to the NIT. After the school joined the Metro Conference, his last three squads posted a combined 13-27 league record with no winning conference seasons.

What happened? Foster resigned in 1986 following a last-place finish in the conference. He took over Northwestern’s program for the next season but struggled mightily. His best team in seven years there went 9-19.

George Felton

Four seasons (1986-87 to 1990-91)

His background before USC: Felton was a former Gamecocks player under McGuire in the mid-1970s. He had spent time working as an assistant under Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech.

How he did at USC: Felton led the Gamecocks to four winning seasons in five years. Two teams got into the rankings, one made the tournament. He was fired after a 20-13 season, with a seventh-place conference finish. Friction with then-AD King Dixon played a role in the departure.

What happened? Off-court factors played a role in Felton’s divorce from the Gamecocks, and he was never a college head coach again. He spent time on Tubby Smith’s staffs at Georgia Tech and Kentucky, and later was a scout for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA, as well as working for the San Antonio Spurs.

Steve Newton

Two seasons (1991-92 to 1992-92)

His background before USC: Newton was a rare mid-major hire for the Gamecocks. He had gone from Murray State assistant to head coach, where he built the Racers into a program that made three tournaments in four years and upset 3-seed N.C. State in 1988.

How he did at USC: Newton’s tenure is remembered as one of the most disastrous in program history. His first team went 11-17, his second 9-18. They were 8-24 in SEC play.

What happened? Newton resigned under a cloud of NCAA recruiting violations. He was moved into an administrative role. After his contract expired, he became AD at University of Southern Indiana, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.

Eddie Fogler

Eight seasons (1993-94 to 2000-01)

His background before USC: Fogler had been an assistant at North Carolina with Dean Smith before heading to Wichita State to jump-start things with the Shockers (two tournament appearances in three seasons). He moved up to Vanderbilt, where he made two tournaments and led the 1992-1993 team to a top-10 finish and the Sweet 16.

How he did at USC: He helped deliver two of the best regular seasons in program history, with a top-10 team and the program’s only SEC championship in 1996-97 and a 23-8 squad the next year. Those teams included greats like BJ McKie, Melvin Watson and Ryan Stack, but each lost in the first round of the NCAAs as a top-3 seed. His final three teams could not break .500.

What happened? Fogler resigned after the school said it would not renew his contract, which had three more years on it. He did not coach again, but worked as a television analysis, radio host and as a consultant for coaching hires.

Dave Odom

Seven seasons (2001-02 to 2007-08)

His background before USC: Right before coming to Columbia, Odom oversaw an excellent era for Wake Forest, leading the Demon Deacons to seven tournaments in a row, with two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight. Three of his last four Wake teams didn’t make the tournament. He also spent time as a Virginia assistant and had a short, unsuccessful stint coaching East Carolina.

How he did at USC: In seven seasons, Odom’s teams reached one NCAA tournament, won two NITs and reached the championship of another. His final two teams were under .500 and near the bottom of the SEC East.

What happened? Word of Odom’s plan to retire leaked before the end of his USC last season, though he speculated he might have been fired otherwise. After coaching, he became the executive director of the Maui Invitational.

Darrin Horn

Four seasons (2008-09 to 2011-12)

His background before USC: A former Tom Crean assistant, Horn broke through at Western Kentucky, where he led the Hilltoppers to the Sweet 16 in 2008. His five-year tenure included four seasons with 22 wins and a pair of NITs.

How he did at USC: Horn’s first team won a share of the SEC East and reached the NIT, losing to Steph Curry and Davidson. Things went downhill from there, with the win total falling each year until bottoming out at 10-21 in 2011-12.

What happened? Horn was fired by then-athletic director Eric Hyman, one of his last acts in the job. Horn resurfaced as an assistant at Texas, took over at Northern Kentucky in 2019, leading the team to three winning seasons and winning the conference tournament in 2020. (The team didn’t play in the NCAA tournament because of the COVID pandemic.)

Frank Martin

Ten seasons (2012-13 to 2021-22)

His background before USC: Martin jumped from the high school ranks in Miami to Northeastern in the college ranks to several seasons with Bob Huggins at Cincinnati and Kansas State. Martin took over the Wildcats when Huggins jumped to West Virginia. Martin thrived, leading K-State to six NCAA tournament wins in four trips across five years. His 2009-10 team went to the Elite Eight and lost a tight game to Butler.

How he did at USC: Martin led a five-year ascent, getting the team to a school-record 25 wins in Year 4 (with no NCAA tournament trip) and a season later the first trip to the Big Dance in 14 years. That 2016-17 team made history, reaching the program’s first Final Four. Only one of his last five teams fell below .500, but none made the postseason or won more than 18 games.

What happened? Martin was fired days after the 2021-22 season ended and is currently working as a studio analyst during the NCAA tournament.

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Do Gamecocks’ hires since McGuire tell us anything about current search? A closer look."