SALT LAKE CITY -- Why must the man SCREAM AND YELL ALL THE TIME, with RELENTLESSLY RAGING DECIBELS that threaten to topple the six lighted spires atop the Mormon-operated Salt Lake Temple? Does he really have to BROWBEAT AND BERATE AND LAMBASTE his players as if he has zero perspective on basketball's place in life? There's no need to have the TV volume up when Frank Martin is going death-stare cuckoo on the Kansas State sideline, because his maniacal eyes always speak for him, blasting right through the closed-captioning scroll.
They are Bobby Knight-scary, vampire-creepy, and the way Martin's razor-thin eyebrows bend and crease make me wonder when he'll be hauled away by the men in white jackets and placed in a rubber room for the rest of the NCAA tournament. Or, worse, if he'll be locked up in Utah, where the locals don't appreciate such behavior. In this age when a lack of civil restraint has led to college coaches being fired -- how's life, Mike Leach? -- I've wondered how Martin survives. As it is, in January, he was subjected to considerable media criticism when he smacked the arm of Chris Merriewether with the back of his hand, compelling Martin to issue an apology afterward. So Kansas State lost the game to Missouri. So the senior had contributed to the defeat with a costly late turnover. Did the coach really have to strike him? Isn't it 2010, Frank?
"They've learned pretty quick to just look the other way,'' Martin said. "Sometimes I feel like -- who is that old mythology witch, or whatever, who used to like stare at people and turn them into stone?"
Medusa, he was told during a news conference.
"I feel like Medusa sometimes. They all look the other way,'' Martin said. "They don't want to look me in the eye."
The only way he moves beyond his inner storm -- players, referees and reporters can be targets at any given moment -- is because his team continues to respond to his tantrums and win. Whether it's Knight in the last century or Martin now, shrieking disciplinarians seem to quiet critics when they're overachieving, which Kansas State has done all season and, really, since Martin took over the program after another controversial loudmouth, Bob Huggins, departed for West Virginia three years ago. The state of Kansas was supposed to have an Elite Eight presence this month, but everybody assumed it would be KU, the elite program thick with tradition and blessed with a talent pipeline across America. But Rock Chalk Jayhawk was smacked down last week by upstart Northern Iowa, opening the tournament door for the screamer and his disciples to slip through the cracks and into the West Regional final. Can you picture Martin's act playing next weekend in Indianapolis? With a win Saturday over Butler, which is trying to pull off the college version of ``Hoosiers'' and advance to a dream Final Four just a few blocks from campus and legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse, we'll have another crazy twist in maybe the craziest March on record.
"Life is not about making mistakes and saying it's OK, because when you're my age and you screw up, nobody is patting you on the back and telling you it's OK,'' Martin said. "They're going to get pissed because you didn't do your job. That's all I'm trying to do is prepare those kids.
"Life's not about making mistakes and saying it's OK, because when you're my age and you screw up, nobody is patting you on the back and telling you it's OK. They're going to be pissed because you didn't do your job. That's all I'm trying to do is prepare those kids."
- Frank Martin
"All we're doing is we're demanding that they do their jobs, that they take pride in what they're doing, because that's what life is all about. I want to make it real for them.''
Real? I suppose some employees are screamed at or grabbed on the arm by lunatic bosses, but it's still the exception in real life, not the rule. In my mind, Martin is stretching every inch of his body and soul to rationalize his tactics. When President Obama said he had Kansas State in the Final Four of his bracket, Martin actually used the news to defend his program. "I've always been one of those people who believe that when people speak about you, it's either a good thing or a bad thing, it's not a neutral. I'd like to think that it's because of the way our kids have played and the focus and intensity that they bring to the court every time we play; that there's a calling there as far as the stuff that we try to do as a staff to get our guys to play a certain way,'' he said. "It's flattering. Three years ago, heck, our own beat writers didn't know who we were. Now we've got the President of the United States speaking about our school and our team and me. It's very complimentary. I hope he's a prophet. I hope his predictions work out.''
He goes so far to suggest his ranting is a form of education, yet down the sideline Saturday, you won't see 33-year-old Brad Stevens come close to admonishing his Butler players. Please don't confuse Martin's way as state-of-the-art. It's motivation born of desperation, part of a life story that is compelling and would merit much more national attention if he wasn't GOING BONKERS SO DAMNED MUCH.
He and his family fled communist Cuba when he was five, a journey that cost his grandfather his life after a heart attack. Life in America wasn't pretty for most of his early years, living in poverty while his mother had to fight hard to make it, learning English from scratch and studying to win her high-school degree. Knowing that his grandmother worked a 12-hour-a-day sewing job and his uncle toiled lifting boxes on the docks in Miami, young Frank realized he had to work himself, landing a job at age 12 at a Dairy Queen in Little Havana. His trail of odd jobs continued -- dishwasher, busboy, billiards-hall attendant, short-order cook -- until he found himself, as he told the New York Times this week, as a bouncer in front of a Miami nightclub in 1992. He was a college student in the area and dabbling in junior-varsity basketball coaching on the high-school level when he took the job, which turned perilous one night when he had to eject a unruly group for fighting, only to have some of the rowdies return and fire gunshots at home.
Eventually, the American dream worked out for the Martins. His mother founded a title company. His uncle soared from the docks to the vice president's office. And Frank became a highly successful coach at Miami Senior High, helping the program to seven state titles. The road became bumpy when he was dismissed amid a recruiting scandal -- he insists to this day he did nothing wrong -- but he caught on as an assistant at Northeastern and eventually hooked up with the controversial Huggins, first at Cincinnati and then moving with him to Kansas State. When Huggins left, the pressure was on Tim Weiser, then the school's athletic director, to hire a big-name coach. Instead, he promoted Martin, who never had been a head coach beyond the prep level.
The locals howled, fearing a return to a decade-plus downturn that preceded Huggins and followed the successful throwback eras of Lon Kruger, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Tex Winter and Jack Hartman. But an incoming star recruit -- you've heard of Michael Beasley -- finally threw his support behind Martin, coaxed by his mother. So did another talented prospect, Bill Walker. Amazingly, Martin has taken the program to places it hasn't been in eons. "I think he was the right man,'' said Weiser, who moved on to be Big 12 deputy commissioner.
The assumption is that Martin's sideline tirades reflect a chip on the shoulder. Just don't say that in his company. "I love the fact that people in the media say I've got a chip on my shoulder. I grew up with an unbelievable family that thought me how to work. Isn't that what America is about, getting out of bed and doing your job and doing it to the best of your abilities?'' he said. "I don't know why doing that makes it a chip on my shoulder. I'm no better than the next, and I'm no worse than the first. I'm just another person that's been put in this place, and I'm trying to do my job to the best of my abilities.
"My job is to lead those kids, to lead our program. And those kids got pride. That's why we recruited them. Those kids knew who we were as coaches. When we recruit kids, we expose them to who we are. We bring guys here and we demand that they do their jobs. You know, here is something no one wants to talk about because everyone wants to talk about us because we're winning. Well, there's a reason we're winning. It's not just because we score more points. It's because the commitment that our kids make to represent our school. We've got the best graduation rate in the Big 12. It's all our guys have gone through. Their numbers are through the roof the last three years. There's a reason success follows that because there's a total commitment to doing things the right way in our program by our kids, and that's why I'm so proud for our kids because they are being rewarded for all their commitment and hard work.''
So there.
"I wouldn't know what the other side of it is like,'' he continued Friday, on the eve of his biggest professional moment. "I definitely haven't been grandfathered through this business, nor would I want to be grandfathered through this business. I embrace the lessons that I've learned in my life. That's what makes me. That's what I try to instill so much passion into our players, to embrace the moment. Because in life, it's not about what doors open up, it's about what side of the door you choose to stay on. And opportunities come around, and if you're not prepared to take on an opportunity, willing to overcome and fight, to take advantage of that opportunity, take advantage of the moment, it's going to be a short-lived career.
"Work doesn't bother me. That's what this country was made out of. That's what makes this such a great country. If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and work, take advantage of opportunities, you can move forward in life. No one controls how much you can achieve or gain in this country. One of the greatest quotes I've ever seen is that the only thing that's fair in life is that we all get 24 hours a day. That's as fair as it gets. If you choose to lay around on the couch and not work, that's what you become. I tell our players, you play PlayStation all day, go become the best PlayStation player in the country. If you want to become a good ballplayer, get on the court and work. I feel privileged that I've had the experiences I've had in my life. God has been good to me, He puts me around good people, makes me go through some hard times to best prepare me for the future."
Jacob Pullen, Frank Martin
It's important that Martin's players don't fear him as much as they respect and even love him as a father figure. Down the road, some surely will balk and leave, but for now, everyone seems to be in sync. Jacob Pullen, whose clutch scoring exploits have generated talk that he is the best player in the tournament and the 2010 version of Stephen Curry, understands his coach. "You start to love him as you get to know him,'' Pullen said. "You love his story. He's always been the underdog."
Love him? "A lot of players have talent, they don't like to be coached, they don't like to be pushed, they don't like for people to tell them what to do,'' Pullen said. "When you want to get better, you want to accept that challenge. That's what Frank does. Every day in practice, he challenges us. When we play games like last night, two overtimes, mentally and physically, we're prepared. If we had 45-minute practices where Frank just walked around told everybody, `Good job,' you know, we have no chance. That's the best thing about playing for a coach like that, he challenges us every day.''
"I like it when he gets mad at me because you take it as a challenge,'' said guard Denis Clemente, who speaks Spanish and understands better Martin better than most. "I say, `Next play, coach, watch, I gonna show you something, I'm gonna do this.' You know what I'm saying?''
"Frank's my guy," said Merriewether, who never held a grudge after the episode that pulled him into the public eye. "He's always had my back. I'll always have his. We are where we are because of Frank."
It's amazing he can have that effect on them through all the verbal exhaust. As long as they accept him and keep winning, there's a chance the national focus will be on Frank Martin the overachiever as well as Frank Martin the madman. He was asked Friday if he was sensitive to the times we live in and whether he has pondered turning down the heat a bit. It took him several minutes to come up for air.
We all wish the man could channel his anger. But as long as his players can turn the negativity into a positive -- as old-school as it gets -- the focus won't be on Frank Martin the madman as much as Frank Martin the overcheiver. He was asked Friday if he was sensitive to the times that we live in and whether he has pondered turning down the heat a bit. It took him several minutes to come up for air.
"I got to be careful with that one. I might be the talk of the country if I say the wrong thing," he said. "I don't know what happens anywhere else. I don't know what 'sensitive to the times we live in' means. I know that my responsibility is to best prepare young men to become men in the future. If anyone's ever been to my practices and they think that I am destroying kids and ruining their confidence and making them worse human beings, then maybe you got a point there. But after 26 seasons of coaching, you might see me screaming on the sideline, I'm never trying to tear our kids down. I'm challenging them to become better, to achieve more, to be more responsible. Isn't that my job as an educator, as a coach, or is it to make their life easier and give them a false understanding of what society's all about? I'm all for making kids better. That's what I do for a living.
"It's worked for me for 26 years. But I know, getting my text messages blown up by all my former players telling me, Frank, this reminds me of our high school team's play. I'm talking about guys in the NBA, guys that work real jobs for a living, guys that have gone on to whatever walks of life they've chosen to follow. I think my job as a teacher is to get kids prepared for the future, not to utilize or trick them to win a basketball game. If anyone tries to be sensitive to the times we live in by not being honest, truthful with young people, then you're just trying to cheat them of finding success in life and not properly preparing them for what life brings.
"Because life ain't easy. I don't care what anyone tells me, life ain't easy. Might be some that are born into no responsibility and millions. But for 90 percent of the people, life ain't easy. And life is what you make out of it. The only way you do that is by working and embracing and accepting the responsibilities that come your way. I think this country has taken a back step, a step in the wrong direction over the last 10, 15 years when it comes to that."
President Obama was joking, I think, when he suggested he add Martin to his cabinet. Martin didn't see it that way. "I can't speak for him, but I'd like to think that he sees the passion with which I have for my job, and he might want some of that passion to help him with his job,'' he said. "That's the way I took it. That's as big a compliment as I ever heard somebody use publicly.''
Guess he couldn't be any LOUDER THAN RAHM EMANUEL, right?
