Frank Martin JB Stories

[UpstateSM]

Played the UMass MBB Collective golf tournament today and got the chance to have a longer conversation with Frank Martin. Frank comes across as a really honest dude and it isn't hard to see why kids want to go play for him. But of course I had to ask him to tell us some Boeheim stories...

Frank was on staff with Huggins at Cincy when the GMac overrated bs went down and he told us that JB called every single head coach in the Big East and mf'ed them trying to find out which assistant coach was talking chit. Something along the lines of "I have been doing this a long time and I haven't came across many coaches who care about their dudes like that."

Other story worth sharing is when Frank was still at a Nike school they had one of their coach symposiums or whatever at Turning Stone. They had poker tables set up in some private room for all of the coaches. JB and Geno Auriemma are at the same table and for HOURS JB did nothing but get under his skin. "When the fkkk are you going to come and coach some real college basketball?" Chit like that. Hahaha. Frank said he had tears rolling down his face.

Also said JB was really helpful to him about playing zone defense literally in the tunnel after we smoked him in the tournament and that summer at USA Basketball. Told us its stuff he still uses and plans on doing moreso this season.

Obviously I am the only person dumb enough here to care about UMass athletics but I had to share the Syracuse stuff that I got out of it. And Frank Martin just seems like a really good guy.

Also, I suck at golf and don't play a ton but Crumpin Fox in western Mass was gorgeous and easily the best course I've ever played. Highly recommend if you ever get the chance.

 

[Conrad13]

I love stories like this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dasher]

Played the UMass MBB Collective golf tournament today and got the chance to have a longer conversation with Frank Martin. Frank comes across as a really honest dude and it isn't hard to see why kids want to go play for him. But of course I had to ask him to tell us some Boeheim stories...

Frank was on staff with Huggins at Cincy when the GMac overrated bs went down and he told us that JB called every single head coach in the Big East and mf'ed them trying to find out which assistant coach was talking chit. Something along the lines of "I have been doing this a long time and I haven't came across many coaches who care about their dudes like that."

Other story worth sharing is when Frank was still at a Nike school they had one of their coach symposiums or whatever at Turning Stone. They had poker tables set up in some private room for all of the coaches. JB and Geno Auriemma are at the same table and for HOURS JB did nothing but get under his skin. "When the fkkk are you going to come and coach some real college basketball?" Chit like that. Hahaha. Frank said he had tears rolling down his face.

Also said JB was really helpful to him about playing zone defense literally in the tunnel after we smoked him in the tournament and that summer at USA Basketball. Told us its stuff he still uses and plans on doing moreso this season.

Obviously I am the only person dumb enough here to care about UMass athletics but I had to share the Syracuse stuff that I got out of it. And Frank Martin just seems like a really good guy.

Also, I suck at golf and don't play a ton but Crumpin Fox in western Mass was gorgeous and easily the best course I've ever played. Highly recommend if you ever get the chance.

Crumpin Fox is the best course around here by a mile. I had a friend that was the pro there.

 

[nocohalo]

When people say JB has forgotten more about basketball than anyone could ever hope to learn, it's actually true and not an exaggeration. He has insane recall with anything related to the game.

I'm sure folks in here remember Adonal Foyle. When Hamilton played in the state tournament his senior year the team they played in the semifinal was the alma mater of my parents, most of my family as well as all of their friends. So my folks went down to watch them get utterly dominated by Foyle, even though they actually made a game of it at the end. A family friend was an assistant coach that year so he had a front row seat to it all. A few years ago said family friend was on a flight to Florida and happened to sit next to none other than JAB. Struck up a convo and he mentioned helping out on the bench with the team that played against Foyle back in 94 and JB immediately said "oh so you were helping coach Hermon-Dekalb? I remember you guys, pretty tough game wasn't it?" JB was recruiting Foyle at the time obviously, but he still remembered everything about the game and the players involved with the opposing team, even at the class D level, nearly 30 years later.

 

[orange79]

Thanks for sharing! Great stories.

Obviously I am the only person dumb enough here to care about UMass athletics but I had to share the Syracuse stuff that I got out of it. And Frank Martin just seems like a really good guy.

CousCuse would like a word with you...

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Frank caught a ton of heat from people who didn't care to look deeper anytime TV cameras showed him unloading on players, especially when he was at Kansas State. But the guys who really took it to heart without taking it too personally became cult heroes, thinking specifically about Jacob Pullen.

 

[Cuse99&01]

I really appreciated Frank Martins perspective on things he discussed in this video:

 

[RandygoCuse]

Played the UMass MBB Collective golf tournament today and got the chance to have a longer conversation with Frank Martin. Frank comes across as a really honest dude and it isn't hard to see why kids want to go play for him. But of course I had to ask him to tell us some Boeheim stories...

Frank was on staff with Huggins at Cincy when the GMac overrated bs went down and he told us that JB called every single head coach in the Big East and mf'ed them trying to find out which assistant coach was talking chit. Something along the lines of "I have been doing this a long time and I haven't came across many coaches who care about their dudes like that."

Other story worth sharing is when Frank was still at a Nike school they had one of their coach symposiums or whatever at Turning Stone. They had poker tables set up in some private room for all of the coaches. JB and Geno Auriemma are at the same table and for HOURS JB did nothing but get under his skin. "When the fkkk are you going to come and coach some real college basketball?" Chit like that. Hahaha. Frank said he had tears rolling down his face.

Also said JB was really helpful to him about playing zone defense literally in the tunnel after we smoked him in the tournament and that summer at USA Basketball. Told us its stuff he still uses and plans on doing moreso this season.

Obviously I am the only person dumb enough here to care about UMass athletics but I had to share the Syracuse stuff that I got out of it. And Frank Martin just seems like a really good guy.

Also, I suck at golf and don't play a ton but Crumpin Fox in western Mass was gorgeous and easily the best course I've ever played. Highly recommend if you ever get the chance.

I'm from Massachusetts and remember in the mid 90s when they were really good. I honestly thought it would last, but they never had much success after Cal left.

 

[Sherman20]

Played the UMass MBB Collective golf tournament today and got the chance to have a longer conversation with Frank Martin. Frank comes across as a really honest dude and it isn't hard to see why kids want to go play for him. But of course I had to ask him to tell us some Boeheim stories...

Frank was on staff with Huggins at Cincy when the GMac overrated bs went down and he told us that JB called every single head coach in the Big East and mf'ed them trying to find out which assistant coach was talking chit. Something along the lines of "I have been doing this a long time and I haven't came across many coaches who care about their dudes like that."

Other story worth sharing is when Frank was still at a Nike school they had one of their coach symposiums or whatever at Turning Stone. They had poker tables set up in some private room for all of the coaches. JB and Geno Auriemma are at the same table and for HOURS JB did nothing but get under his skin. "When the fkkk are you going to come and coach some real college basketball?" Chit like that. Hahaha. Frank said he had tears rolling down his face.

Also said JB was really helpful to him about playing zone defense literally in the tunnel after we smoked him in the tournament and that summer at USA Basketball. Told us its stuff he still uses and plans on doing moreso this season.

Obviously I am the only person dumb enough here to care about UMass athletics but I had to share the Syracuse stuff that I got out of it. And Frank Martin just seems like a really good guy.

Also, I suck at golf and don't play a ton but Crumpin Fox in western Mass was gorgeous and easily the best course I've ever played. Highly recommend if you ever get the chance.

Frank Martin was a maniac on the sideline (which I generally don’t like), but despite that, I always really liked him as a coach. Struck me as a really good and genuine guy anytime he did an interview or post game presser. Not a douche like Hurley.

 

[kingtidge]

Frank caught a ton of heat from people who didn't care to look deeper anytime TV cameras showed him unloading on players, especially when he was at Kansas State. But the guys who really took it to heart without taking it too personally became cult heroes, thinking specifically about Jacob Pullen.

Yeah, I always liked Frank but he's got an old skool bravado with managing players and it's got to be hard for a guy like him to manage some of the premadonnas in today's game.

He needs to recruit a bunch of bulletproof grinders like Pearl got at Auburn who can actually take getting yelled at in stride... Not as many of those players around as there used to be...

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Yeah, I always liked Frank but he's got an old skool bravado with managing players and it's got to be hard for a guy like him to manage some of the premadonnas in today's game.

He needs to recruit a bunch of bulletproof grinders like Pearl got at Houston who can actually take getting yelled at in stride... Not as many of those players around as there used to be...

IIRC there was an article not long after he took the UMass job that discussed him chilling out and being swayed by the idea of working at a place where basketball wasn't swallowed up by football and near colleges that his daughter was applying to. His wife was an alum so even though it wasn't easy to uproot the family again it seems like he's happy and probably not looking to return to a Power 5 team.