University of South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin announced on Wednesday afternoon that Chuck Martin has been promoted to Associate Head Coach, and Brian Steele, a three-year letterwinner for Martin and the Gamecocks, has been promoted to Assistant Coach following the departure of Bruce Shingler to Maryland.
“I’m very excited to give Chuck the title of Associate Head Coach and to promote Brian to an Assistant Coach for our program,” Martin said. “Chuck has been a head coach, he’s been an assistant at major universities, and is more than deserving of this title that he has earned during his time here at South Carolina. I fully trust him with every responsibility of our program, and he has done a great job leading us internally as we’ve continued to deal with good and bad.
“Brian spent the early part of his career building our program as a player; a lot of who we are as a program was established with his courage and his fight and his mind. He then became a student assistant coach after injuries stopped his playing career, so he was able to start coaching. He then stayed on as a graduate assistant, and then became an assistant coach at Queens University for two years before he returned last year as our video coordinator. Brian understands what we teach, has a great relationship with players and is a star in the coaching profession. And he is one of us; he is a South Carolinian, he takes pride in this uniform and he is like a young brother to me. I’m excited for this opportunity for Brian and our team.”
As mentioned, Chuck Martin has had a successful career on the sidelines in the college ranks, with over 20 years of experience at the Division I level. Martin was the head coach at Marist for five seasons (2008-13), and has been an assistant coach at Indiana (2014-17) and Memphis (2006-08), in addition to stops at Manhattan, UMass, Drexel and St. John’s.
“I’m very appreciative of the opportunity that Frank and Coach Tanner have given to me, and I hope that I make those in our program, and those in the community proud,” Martin said.
While at Indiana, Martin helped the Hoosiers to three postseason appearances, including two NCAA Tournament berths, as well as the 2016 Big Ten title. During his time at Memphis, Martin saw the Tigers post a 71-6 record behind the play of standouts Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey. Memphis became the first Conference USA squad to finish undefeated in the regular season and conference tournament in 2008, before advancing to the NCAA Championship later that season.
Steele, a Greenville, S.C., native, was a three-year letterwinner for the Gamecocks on the hardwood (2012-15), where he saw action in 50 career games in the Garnet and Black, with four starts. After knee injuries dotted his first three seasons on the court, Steele opted to serve as a student assistant coach during the 2015-16 campaign. He did the same during the historic 2016-17 season that saw Carolina reach the Final Four, and then was a graduate assistant manager the following year.
“It is hard to put into words what Frank Martin and this program mean to me,” commented Steele. “I’m grateful for Frank and Coach Tanner continuing to believe in me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and on the road recruiting.”
Steele was a three-time SEC Academic Honor roll member and was named to the NABC Honors Court during his career before he earned his degree in sport and entertainment management in May 2016. Steele spent two of the most successful seasons in Queens University basketball history as an assistant for the program. On the recruiting trail for the Lions, Steele signed Justin Thomas, the highest ranked recruit in Queens history, despite multiple Division I offers for the three-star guard. In 2019-2020, the Royals posted a 24-7 record, winning 10 of their final 11 games, and Queens finished in the top 25 in both major national polls (NCAA D-II) for the fifth-straight season. During the 2018-2019 campaign, Queens went 31-5, won the South Atlantic Conference regular-season championship by five games and repeated as Southeast Regional champions to advance to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
