Erik Martin is the final member of Bob Huggins' staff at Kansas State.The native of Covina, Calif., comes to Manhattan fresh off a two-year gig as an assistant coach at Cincinnati State and Technical College in Ohio. He began coaching at Jacobs Center H.S. in Cincinnati, serving as the junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach in 2003-04.He played nine years professionally around the world, including four years in the Continental Basketball Association with Boise, LaCrosse, Omaha and Yakima.Martin, 35, played power forward for Huggins at Cincinnati in 1989-90 and from 1991-93. He played alongside Herb Jones, Corie Blount and Nick Van Exel, helping the Bearcats advance to the Final Four in 1992. The following season, he led Cincinnati in rebounding (6.7 per game) and was second in scoring (13.5 points)."Erik brings a wealth of playing experience at nearly every level to our program," Huggins said. "He will be able to relate to our players not only from his experience as a player for me at Cincinnati, but also from his time playing in both the CBA and internationally. He is familiar with the style of play that I want to run here at K-State and what it takes to be a successful player in that style. He is also a native of California and will be able to open up another recruiting area for us on the West Coast."Martin joins assistants Frank Martin and Dalonte Hill, director of basketball operations Brad Underwood, video coordinator Andy Assaley and strength and conditioning coach Scott Greenawalt."I am really excited about the opportunity to coach at K-State," Martin said. "My goal has been to be a coach at the Division I level and to obviously work for someone like Coach Huggins, this is a perfect situation for me. I have a good idea of his coaching philosophy and how a player can be successful in that system."I look forward to helping him build this program into a national contender."
