Martin keeps K-State great minus Huggins
December 26, 2009
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP)—Frank Martin is stubborn. Not in the find that missingpuzzle piece kind of way, but in the tell me I can’t do something and I’ll proveyou wrong vein.
He was like that even before taking a job at Dairy Queen in Little Havana atage 12.
So when Martin heard the rumblings he wasn’t qualified to replace BobHuggins at Kansas State, that he was nothing more than a high school coach kepton to baby sit Michael Beasley, he shook off the sting and turned it into achallenge.
Look at him now.
Molding the program in his own us-against-the-world image, Martin has No. 12Kansas State off to its best start in years with a foundation to keep it goingfor many more to come.
This underdog is quite a bulldog.
“That’s who I am. I’m used to it,” Martin said. “I don’t expect it anyother way. I expect to have to earn my right. I expect to have to earn mystripes. I expect to have to work extremely hard. It’s the way I’ve been raised.It’s the only thing I’ve known since I was a kid. It’s not like it’s somethingnew for me.”
Fiery and demanding, Martin got his start at Miami-area high schools,spending 15 years there before entering the college ranks as an assistant atNortheastern. He joined Huggins’ staff at Cincinnati and followed him to KansasState in 2006.
When Huggins bolted for his alma mater, West Virginia, after just oneseason, Martin was tapped as the 23rd head coach in Kansas State history.
That’s when the criticism started.
Martin was called overmatched, even hearing one person call his hiring anembarrassment to college basketball. The Martin bashing continued into theseason as the Wildcats kept winning, critics attacking his in-your-face style ofcoaching, the way his players called him Frank instead of Coach, even for hisbig suits and slick hair.
“I’m a human being,” Martin said. “I’d rather people root for theunderdog than shoot the underdog.”
The underdog kept fighting.
Kansas State had a successful first season under Martin, with Beasley andthe gang finishing 21-12 and winning an NCAA tournament game for the first timesince 1988.
The next season, the one that would supposedly would expose Martin as afraud, was nearly as successful even with Beasley and Bill Walker in the NBA;the Wildcats just missed the NCAA tournament and finished with 22 wins.
This season has revealed Martin’s ability to build a program.
Athletic and relentless on defense, Kansas State (11-1) has won eightstraight and is off to one of the best starts in school history. The Wildcatshave their highest ranking since 1973—highest pre-conference since 1965—andhave beaten two ranked non-conference teams in the same season (UNLV and Dayton)for the first time in 61 years.
Unlike the Beasley-led group, Kansas State has done it as a team.
Jacob Pullen, part of Beasley’s recruiting class, has teamed with Miamitransfer Denis Clemente to make up one of the nation’s best guard combinations.The front line is long and athletic, led by springy-legged holdovers DominiqueSutton and Jamar Samuels.
Forward Curtis Kelly has made a solid contribution after transferring fromConnecticut, and a stellar recruiting class, led by highly rated forward WallyJudge, is making strides.
Together, they’ve bought into Martin’s you’ve-got-to-earn-it mentality.
“I really believed in Frank and I think all of us who came (here) wouldn’thave if we thought that it was just going be a one-year Mike Beasley and BillWalker flash, and we’d never be good again,” Pullen said. “I don’t think anyof us would have come here and we would have taken our other options. But wereally believed in Frank and believed in the foundation he was laying, and Ithink everybody that’s on board right now bought in.”
It’s not always easy. Martin makes sure of that.
He still drives them relentlessly in practice, still spends games stomping,screaming and giving his players stare-a-hole-through-you looks whenever theymake a mental mistake.
When the young players struggled through a rough stretch, including alackluster win over Fort Hays State, Martin vowed to test their manhood inpractice.
The Wildcats responded with five straight wins, including over then-No. 18UNLV.
With just a day off after beating Alabama, Martin decided to take it easy onhis team before Monday’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Wildcats pulledout an uneven win and Martin blamed himself, saying he would try to purge theirChristmas dinners in practice Saturday night.
“We’re closer,” Martin said, “but we still haven’t won anything that’sworthy of celebrations. We’ve yet to play a Big 12 game this year.”
Spoken like a true underdog.
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