South Carolina Gamecocks’ March Madness Run is More Proof that the Tennessee Vols Made an Awful AD Hire
The Gamecocks’ March Madness run to the Sweet Sixteen is with a coach, Frank Martin, that Tennessee Athletic Director John Currie ran off from Kansas State.
Right now, South Carolina is the talk of March Madness after they upset the Duke Blue Devils to reach the next weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
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They are doing it under fifth-year head coach Frank Martin. Martin arrived at South Carolina in 2012 after new Tennessee Vols athletic director John Currie ran him off from Kansas State while he was athletic director there.
It’s no secret that Currie ran him off either. Just read this article in the Topeka Capital-Journal on it.
Currie ran off Martin after he had taken the Wildcats to four NCAA Tournaments in five years, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2010.
Martin took over a South Carolina program that had gone through three straight losing seasons, had not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2004, and had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973.
After two losing seasons there, he got them back above .500 his third year. Then he got them to the NIT his fourth year. And this year, he’s got them in the Sweet Sixteen.
So it’s safe to say he’s worked out.
Meanwhile, Currie hired Bruce Weber to Kansas State. Weber did exactly what he did at Illinois. He succeeded his first two years, going to the NCAA Tournament with players Martin recruited and developed.
Then he missed the tournament for two years and snuck in this year. Still, in five years at Kansas State, he has yet to get past the first round.
All of this is to say that Currie clearly made a terrible decision running Martin off from Kansas State.
So what’s his reward for such an idiotic decision?
He gets to take over the University of Tennessee.
Could that decision look anymore idiotic than it does right now? It’s still impossible to see what qualifications Currie has to be the Vols athletic director. So he has experience running a Power Five program.
Who cares? He failed at it!
His biggest move was a bust. And right now, in the heart of March Madness, Martin is making him and the entire University of Tennessee look ridiculous.
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We’ve lamented Currie’s hiring moves in the past. Martin was just one failure that we mentioned.
Don’t forget that he was instrumental in bringing in Lane Kiffin while he was with the Vols in 2008. The guy’s an utter failure when it comes to hires all the way around.
And on Sunday night, Martin put a huge egg on Currie’s face. Fortunately for Currie, it doesn’t matter as much.
His incompetence can only be surpassed by the incompetence of the University of Tennessee administration.