Martin’s bluntness seen as a positive by his players

GLENDALE, ARIZ. » Often it starts with just a look. Frank Martin’s glare alone is worth a thousand words. Many of those words would be rated R.

And if that glare is not enough for South Carolina’s coach to get a point across to a player, he has louder ways that will do the trick.

Rodney McGruder played three seasons for Martin at Kansas State and was on the receiving end of so many of the coach’s tirades that he laughs when asked to recall one or two that stand out.

“My entire freshman season, man,” McGruder said. “I never knew what I was going to do to get one of those crazy stares and him stomping his foot at me and him yelling at me. I remember turning the ball over and looking over at the bench and that look that he has in his eyes, I see that now.”

Martin might be the most intense coach in college basketball and in many ways has been the breakout star of this Final Four, leading his seventhseeded Gamecocks to the first NCAA Tournament semifinals appearance in school history. South Carolina (26-10) plays topseeded Gonzaga (36-1) on Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Barrel-chested and built like the night-club bouncer he once was, Martin cuts an imposing figure on the sideline in a garnet suit. He believes in being brutally honest with his players, but do not call it tough love.

“If people love you, they tell you the truth. They don’t lie to you. So I hear tough love, and I’ve been hearing it for a long time. I don’t know what that is,” Martin said during a news conference Friday with three of his players. “People use that term all the time. Because if you’re not being honest with your players and you’re not giving them passion, then there is no love. That’s phoniness. And, I don’t know, it’s my experience in 32, 33 years coaching guys like the ones to my left that if you’re phony with them, they got no time for anything I say regardless of how nice I am.”

Martin’s players say they appreciate his bluntness, but it can take some getting used to.

“All of our guys that come in, when you first get that first Frank hollerat, it’s tough but you know it’s coming,” guard PJ Dozier said.

Chris Silva is a softspoken sophomore who grew up in Gabon in central Africa and played high school basketball in New Jersey for a coach that, he said, usually did not raise his voice.

“It’s completely different from Coach Frank,” Silva said. “He’s going to let you know loudly.”