A news conference will be held Thursday to announce the new men's basketball coach. The time and location of the press conference will be announced on Wednesday.I will admit, I am a bit disappointed by the decision.
In a statement, ISU Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey said, "I greatly appreciate all that coach Martin has done for our men’s basketball program this year. He took over the team in a difficult time and helped our program qualify for the conference tournament."
Under Martin, Idaho State had done a total 180 this year. They began the year 3-13, were picked to finish last, and wound up nearly hosting a game in the conference tournament. On a team without a depth of talent, they nearly won their quarterfinal game to advance to the Big Sky semis. He took over mid-season and did an outstanding job.
He appeared to have a knack for knowing how to use his talent, has a history of solid recruiting at previous jobs, and appeared to be working on recruiting this year as well. It's clear that Idaho State AD Jeff Tingey and his staff have done a thorough job searching for the next head coach, and have come up with someone they like better, but it will be interesting. One guess is Bill Evans, but we'll have to wait until Thursday to see.
If I was Northern Arizona, I would pick up the phone and give Martin a look for my open position. Honestly, it seems like he would be a great choice there.
Idaho State fans, I know you are my passionate, would love to hear your thoughts on this.
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I'm extremely disappointed. Martin, unfortunately, carried the burden of being associated with Joe O'Brien. I think that's what did him in. People bitch about the bad ending of the season, but let's face facts. This is, for the most part, an untalented team with little to no depth. Going 7-9 and taking the 5th seed with the players he was given to work with is amazing.
ReplyDeleteUnless Coach K is coming from Duke, the announcement on Thursday will leave a lot of people scratching their heads. If they even care at that point.
If it's Bill Evans, people need to demand to know "why."
I;m not an Idaho State fan, but I'm kind of dismayed by it. Martin was a first-year assistant under O'Brien and associate head coach when he came in, and we saw what he did with just over half a season. Unreal. I agree, if it's Bill Evans, the longtime Idaho high school coach, people are going to go crazy.
ReplyDeleteBill Hawkins is the longtime Idaho high school coach. Bill Evans is the current Montana Griz assistant coach, and former head coach at Southern Utah. He had an overall losing record at SUU, but he did have one NCAA tournament appearance.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't make much sense that this is the best they can do.
Sad day for the Idaho State Men's Basketball Program. Coach Martin was a present that was dropped off into the lap of Idaho State University and because the AD at Idaho State had his own agenda they will truly lose out. I was fortunate enough to play under Deane Martin and he did tremendous things in his short stint for the ISU Men's Basketball team. How the AD and members in the coaching selection committee treated Martin was terrible. I know for a fact that he wanted the job 100% and wanted to turn the program around (which he was doing). I knew that politics was prevelent at any level but my eyes have now been opened even more. NAU would be crazy to not go for him!
ReplyDeletePeople are passionate, both sides. Some interesting comments here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/sports/?p=5788#comments
Martin might have had a better shot at head coach had ISU not ended the season on such a bad losing streak. That was his chance to finish strong and force them to hire him and he ended up losing like 7 of the last 8 when it mattered most, so he had his opportunities and has no one to blame but himself. I am ready for a coach that can finish out the close games strong myself. The former Montana/SUU coach is credited for Montana's suffocating defense and that is what wins championships. I wish him well!
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