Mississippi State is a better basketball program — traditionally speaking — than South Carolina.  By a wide margin.

Yet it’s Carolina that appears to be on the verge of landing a “name” coach in Kansas State’s well-established Frank Martin.  Granted it seems that if Martin moves he will do so partly out of spite for his current boss, but that won’t matter to MSU fans who will most assuredly ask, “Why not us?”

Scott Stricklin hired Parker Executive Search out of Atlanta to help drum up candidates to replace Rick Stansbury.  They kicked the tires on first-year Murray State coach Steve Prohm, but talk’s gone quiet on that front since Prohm’s boss said he thought there was a good chance his coach would stay put with a new contract. 

Other than Prohm, some assistants (Kentucky’s Kenny Payne is a Mississippi native) and a few other connect-the-dots type candidates (MTSU’s Kermit Davis played at MSU for his father), State’s search has been — to quote “LA Confidential” — off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush.

For comparison’s sake, Martin served as a Bob Huggins assistant at Cincinnati and Kansas State for three years before being promoted to replace his old boss in 2006.  Since then he’s had five 20-win seasons in five years, has made the NCAA Tournament four times, and has reached one Elite Eight.

Even if MSU lands Prohm or one of the nation’s fastest-rising assistants, that new coach won’t be able to equal Martin’s short, but proven track record.

That’s not to say an assistant hired by State wouldn’t have as much or even more success than Martin if he winds up at South Carolina.  There’s no way of knowing how any college football or basketball coach will do (save a very few — Nick Saban, John Calipari, Roy Williams, etc).

But what we do know is that State fans who just ran off the school’s all-time winningest coach will want to land a bigger name coach than whoever is hired by Carolina.  If they don’t, Stricklin will have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Over the weekend, it was reported that South Carolina AD Eric Hyman formally asked Kansas State for permission to talk to basketball coach Frank Martin about the vacancy in Columbia.  Given a chance to kill the talk on CBS during its NCAA Tournament coverage, Martin danced:


“In the age of social media that we live in right now, it’s crazy.  I was scheduled to be at a press conference today in South Carolina and I was sitting watching a show in New York City last night.  And obviously I’m sitting here with you guys today, so it’s… The stuff that gets out these days, I look at it as a compliment that we’re doing our job the right way at Kansas State that these sort of things get out.”


That statement from Saturday was not a denial of his interest in the USC job.  It was not a denial of anything, in fact.  The day before he did tweet the following: “I have not talked 2 anyone.”

Well, if a report from GamecockCentral.com is to be believed — that’s the Rivals site covering Carolina — then Martin’s agent sure must be doing some talking.  On the same day Martin was tap dancing around the subject on CBS, GamecockCentral wrote the following:


“A source close to Kansas State coach Frank Martin told GamecockCentral.com on Friday that a deal to bring the coach to Columbia to replace Darrin Horn was 90 percent done.  On Saturday morning, the same source said that the deal remains 90 percent complete, but is not finalized.”


The site also claims a contract was sent to Martin on Friday night.  And the student newspaper for USC — The Daily Gamecock — reported late last night that “Frank Martin interviewed in Columbia” according to “a source.”

Could all the Carolina talk simply be leverage for the coach?  It’s possible as he’s scheduled to open negotiations on a new deal with K-State on April 1st.

It’s also possible according to The Kansas City Star — and as we suggested last week — that Martin is ticked over his school’s decision to suspend a key player right before his team’s second-round NCAA tourney game with Syracuse. 

PowerCat.com — the Rivals site covering Kansas State — reported yesterday that “a source close to Martin” said “It’s not about money anymore.”  Meaning Martin’s relationship with KSU AD John Currie might be beyond repair after the suspension of Jamar Samuels.  That site also suggests that if Martin leaves, “dirty laundry will be tossed everywhere” by the talkative, hot-headed coach.  (Wonder what Hyman thinks about that?)

Meanwhile, Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall — a South Carolina native and the man most-often mentioned in connection to USC’s search as it got underway — has announced that he’s staying put in Kansas. 

So the previous favorite isn’t in the running (and apparently never really was).  Sources are reporting that Carolina has met with Martin, hammered out 90% of a deal, and sent him and his agent a contract.  All just one week before the coach is set to negotiate a new deal with Kansas State.

Unfortunately for Cock fans, the only news this morning on Martin does not concern a signed document.  Instead, ESPN is running a story with this headline as of 10:35 this morning: “Frank Martin paid his former players.”

Yikes.  But it’s not exactly what you think. 

In the story, Martin is quoted — from his CBS stint on Sunday — as saying that he sent money “to kids that played for me in high school when they were in college because I knew where they came from.  I knew they didn’t have a father figure.”

“I’m not going to tell you who they were,” Martin said during the broadcast.  “But I sent them a lot of money over the years to make sure they could take their girlfriend out to the movies, make sure they could wash their clothes and do all the things that scholarship money doesn’t cover.”

Martin was making the case for his own suspended player — who was given $200 by an AAU coach who had been a father figure to the young man growing up. 

While Martin’s statement shows that he has a heart, it might also cause the NCAA to start asking some questions.  No, Martin did not admit to paying his own players — a clear NCAA violation.  But he did admit to sending money to other schools’ players.  And that’s exactly the kind of action that led to one of his own players being suspended for fear of an NCAA violation.

That admission might throw a wrench into Hyman’s plans.  You can bet he would have preferred the coach had never mentioned anything about his payouts to other schools’ players.

So, is Martin angry enough to bolt a traditional basketball school for a football-first school in a football-first conference?  Is he simply using Carolina for leverage to get more money and more control in Manhattan?

And is Hyman ready to pull the trigger on a guy who can be a bit of hair-trigger himself and who’s just admitted on national television that he’s sent cash to college players?  From Carolina’s side of things it looks like things are still all-systems-go.  GamecockCentral.com is reporting today that USC’s board of trustees will hold a special meeting tomorrow morning to discuss “contractual matters.”

In other words, it looks like Martin may fly (to) the coop a few days before that scheduled negotiation with Currie and KSU is scheduled to begin.

Stay tuned.

GamecockCentral.com — the Rivals site covering South Carolina — is reporting that Kansas State head coach Frank Martin “has been confirmed as a candidate with ‘heavy’ interest in USC, according to a source close to the situation.”  (That’s paywall stuff, folks, so you’ll need to buy a subscription for more.)

If true, it seems that Carolina AD Eric Hyman could book one flight to Kansas City and knock out a pair of interviews — one with Martin and one with believed-to-be-top-candidate Gregg Marshall of Wichita State.

Martin — a Miami native — is known for his drill-sergeant style (hell, in a movie R. Lee Ermey would play him… NSFW, by the way.).  He is also known for taking Kansas State to four NCAA tournaments in his five years in Manhattan.  The 45-year-old has never won fewer than 21 games in a season and has a .684 winning percentage. 

But he currently makes $1.5 million in a basketball-loving state.  Would he really have “heavy” interest in moving to a football-first league and a program that’s seen the downfalls of George Felton, Eddie Fogler, Dave Odom and Darrin Horn in the past 20 years?

If so — and if Carolina could offer him enough cash to make the move — he’d be the second ex-Bob Huggins assistant to coach in the league along with old colleague Andy Kennedy.  Hmmm.  Seems all those Huggins guys have tempers when you think about it.

Missouri has received a commitment from offensive lineman Harneet Gill from Francis Howell School in St. Charles, Mo.

Missouri was the first school to offer Gill, who recently visited Kansas State and was scheduled to take a trip to Illinois. Gill isn’t expected to entertain other offers, according to Francis Howell coach Bryan Koch.

“He’s very rare as an athlete,” Koch said of Gill. “You don’t see a lot of 6-7 1/2 guys that can move like he can.”

Missouri has six commitments for the class of 2013. Gill is the second offensive lineman, joining Alec Abeln from St. Louis.

1. Arkansas tied a school record by winning its 11th game in the Cotton Bowl 29-16 over Kansas State.

2. Quarterback Tyler Wilson and defensive end Jake Bequette took home MVP honors last night.

3. Joe Adams and Co. gave Kansas State a dose of its own medicine.

4. Two big reasons LSU is undefeated playing in the BCS Championship Game: corners Mo Claiborne and Tyrann Mathieu.

5. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron is focused on playing his game heading into the Tide’s rematch with LSU.

6. Alabama running back Trent Richardson has revenge on his mind heading into Monday’s game.

7. Could LSU be the greatest team in the BCS era if it beats Alabama on Monday?

8. Speaking of the BCS, Michael Rosenberg believes the old bowl system is better than the current setup.

9. Brett McMurphy’s poll at CBSSports.com shows players would prefer to see a playoff in college football.

10. Florida’s basketball team hopes to remain balanced as it begins SEC play.

11. Florida’s first SEC opponent, Tennessee, could miss Bruce Pearl’s success against Florida.

12. The SEC will beat up on itself in league play, writes Mike Strange of the Knoxville News Sentinel.

13. Tennessee wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers had successful surgery on Friday to repair an injured finger.

14. Former Tennessee lineman Reggie McKenzie is the new general manager of the Oakland Raiders.

15. LSU and Ole Miss will both be shorthanded heading into today’s basketball game in Baton Rouge.

16. Vanderbilt will open SEC play against Auburn and Commodores coach Kevin Stallings wants to see improved defense.

17. Guess what? So does Auburn coach Tony Barbee, who said his team “isn’t guarding.”

In Part 3 of our SEC expansion series, we wanted to look total population.  In addition to television households — which we looked at in Part 2 — leagues are hoping to increase their overall influence.  You do that by reaching more people, total.

There’s also a financial side to expanding a league’s population base.  First, there’s the obvious opportunity to convert new fans and sell more tickets, more caps and more t-shirts.  All that’s well and good, but there’s a greater reason than merchandise sales.  Let’s take Texas A&M, for example.  Now that the SEC has a Texas-based school with a huge alumni base in its ranks, viewership for SEC games in the Lone Star State should rise.  That’s added exposure for every SEC school that A&M plays.

Do a little research and you’ll find that schools like George Mason and Boise State actually see a jump in student applications (and alumni donations) after reaching a Final Four or BCS bowl game.  So being seen by a percentage of the 25 million Texas residents could lead to more applications for the SEC’s schools.  More students (or better students) equals more money long-term.  Applicants become students become graduates become donors.  That’s how you keep money flowing into a school decade-in and decade-out.

Just last summer, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany mentioned as one reason for expansion the continued population shift from the Rust Belt and Midwest toward the South.  His league eyed ways to get into the South, but it didn’t pan out for them last year.  Still, the fact that they were looking shows the importance of total population when it comes to conference expansion.

This Category:  Total State Population

Why:  Is it fair to suggest that a school in one corner of a state will reach and influence residents across that entire state?  No.  But it’s just about the best shorthand method we have.  It’s impossible to measure a school’s true sphere of dominant influence.  So we’ll just look at the each school’s home state and tally up the population base that the school could theoretically add to the league.  One last note — schools currently located in SEC states obviously bring no new population to the league.

* Now, do Baylor or TCU truly influence as many Texans as Texas or Texas A&M?  Of course not.  But the potential is there.

* It’s clear why West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State are considered to be BCS schools that might have to fight to finding a landing spot in a realigned world.  Grab one of those schools and the league doing the grabbing isn’t reaching many new folks.

For comparison, here is how the SEC stacks up:

* After looking at television households in Part 2 and total population in Part 3, it’s a good thing the Mississippi schools and Arkansas are already in the SEC.  If they were on the outside looking in at this point, the business of expansion might leave them searching for a home just like West Virginia and the Kansas schools.

* The average population of an SEC state is 6.5 million people.

Up next in Part 4, we’ll actually take location into consideration.

Yesterday evening, Yahoo! Sports released its findings from an 11-month investigation into the University of Miami athletic program.  In the process, the names of several coaches and players with SEC ties were covered in a bit of dirt, too.

Below is some of the fallout from yesterday’s report:

Florida — implicated: receivers coach Aubrey Hill, receiver Andre Debose, offensive lineman Matt Patchan

UF released a statement saying: “While we declined comment for Yahoo’s request, Coach Hill indicated he was very comfortable with, and very confident in how he conducted himself while at the University of Miami.”

Obviously, if it’s found that Debose and Patchan did receive illegal benefits, both could face eligibility concerns.

Debose’s father says he has no knowledge of his son accepting illegal benefits.

Georgia — implicated: tight end Orson Charles

Athletic director Greg McGarity said this morning that UGA “is checking into it.”

Here’s how Charles was tied to Nevin Shapiro, the man who’s now ratting out Miami.

The story does not suggest that Charles took any illegal benefits, so his eligibility does not appear to be in question… for now.

Alabama – implicated: offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, director of football operations Joe Pannunzio

The two men Nick Saban hired this offseason are accused of breaking NCAA rules while coaching at Miami.

The school released a statement last night saying: “The University of Alabama is aware of the story but will have no further comment.”

Pannunzio has also coached at Ole Miss and at Auburn in the SEC.

Tennessee — implicated: former running back Bryce Brown, now at Kansas State

Bryce Brown and his brother Arthur (who began his career at Miami) were both named in the Yahoo! report.

The brothers might face eligibility issues at Kansas State, so Tennessee fans can be glad that Brown transferred out last summer.

Running back Donovan Roberts from Norman (Okla.) High School has committed to Arkansas.

Roberts chose Arkansas over scholarship offers from such schools as Arizona, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Iowa State and Kansas State, according to Rivals.com.

Roberts, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards as a junior at Norman, is the sixth commitment in the class of 2012 for Arkansas.

Arkansas has received a commitment from athlete Nathan Holmes from Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas.

Arkansas was the first major school to offer a scholarship to Holmes. He had also received interest from schools such as LSU, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Arizona.

Arkansas has three commitments for the class of 2012.

What must Kansas State fans have thought?

If any Wildcat faithful had stayed tuned into ESPN after their own team was jobbed with a letter-of-the-law, Barney Fife-ish, ticky-tack call in the Pinstripe Bowl, they must’ve been sickened by what they saw.

First, the Pinstripe Fiasco: K-State receiver Adrian Hillborn scored on a 30-yard touchdown catch-and-run with little more than a minute to play.  When he reached the back of the end zone, he gave a very quick salute to the crowd.  Two Big Ten officials tossed their flags over the unsportsmanlike act and the Wildcats were forced to try a game-tying two-point conversion attempt from 18 yards away.  They failed.  And Syracuse won.

Now we usually defend officials around here because everyone picks on them.  They pick on them so much that we now have more letter-of-the-law calls being made.  That’s not a good thing.  Refs should be able to use their judgement as to when a foul impacts play or deserves to be penalized. 

Hillborn’s short, impromptu salute did not deserve a flag.

But in the very next game — Tennessee versus North Carolina in the Music City Bowl — Vol players were running through premeditated gestures for the full sixty minutes… actually more if you include two overtime periods. 

Kansas State fans had to be scratching their heads over what really constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct.  ESPN’s broadcasters certainly were.


* After touchdowns (and even after some run of the mill first-down completions), quarterback Tyler Bray and his receivers did their “loco” finger roll move, something they’ve been doing after big plays for five games now.  The gesture was “inspired” by a rap video.

* After a touchdown pass from Bray to Gerald Jones, both players gave saluting gestures to the crowd.  Their salutes were longer than Hillborn’s, by the way.

* After a touchdown pass from Bray to Da’Rick Rogers, the freshman wideout gestured to the crowd as though he were showing off a title belt.


And yet nary a flag flew.  The real oddity?  Like the Kansas State game, a Big Ten officiating crew was working Tennessee’s contest. 

How can a quick, unplanned salute in a game-changing moment be flagged while numerous planned celebrations throughout another game are ignored?  By officials from the same league?

It seems the NCAA has a little teaching to do this offseason.

As for the Vols, while the officials didn’t punish UT for their taunts, the football gods did.  After tossing an overtime touchdown pass to tie the game at 27, Bray was caught by ESPN cameras turning to the North Carolina bench and giving a two-handed throat slash gesture (photo at left).

Predictably, less than 10 minutes later Bray was teary-eyed on his own sideline after tossing an interception that wound up being a game-loser for his Vols.  Hello, Karma.

For a team that finished 6-7 and never beat an FBS team with a winning record, Tennessee’s players have apparently spent quite a bit of time working on their gestures, celebrations and taunts. 

Maybe next year the Vols should spend more time on boring ol’ blocking and tackling.