Erik Martin (born May 26, 1971) is an American basketball coach and former professional player, currently serving as head coach for

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a me ...

. A native of California, Martin played one season of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at TCU before transferring to

Santa Ana College Santa Ana College is a public community college in Santa Ana, California. History In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Orange ...

, a junior college in California where he was a first-team All-State selection. In 1991 he joined the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

, and with the Bearcats he reached the Final Four during the 1992 NCAA tournament. After going undrafted in the 1993 NBA draft he played for various CBA teams and abroad in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. He also earned two selections in the United States national team: he won the silver medal at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and the gold medal during the

1997 Tournament of the Americas The 1997 Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup, was a basketball championship hosted by Uruguay from 21 to 31, August 1997. The games were played in Montevideo. This FIBA AmeriCup was to ea ...

. After retiring as a player he has held several assistant coach jobs, mainly for

Bob Huggins Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953) is an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed “Huggy Bear,” he is currently the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coach ...

, first at

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and later at West Virginia.

High school career

Martin is a native of

West Covina, California West Covina is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most popul ...

, and he attended

Whittier Christian High School Whittier Christian High School is a non-profit, non-denominational, Christian high school located in La Habra, California. It was founded in 1958. The high school has a gymnasium named the Leon Davis Event Center, after the school worker Leon Dav ...

in nearby

La Habra La Habra (archaic spelling of ''La Abra'', ) is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. A related city, La Habra Heights, is located to the north o ...

, where he played as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

and

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

. A starter since his sophomore year, in his junior season Martin averaged 21.9 points and 14.1 rebounds per game, earning the Most Valuable Player award in the 1-A league and was selected in the All-Southern and All-State First Teams. Martin was again selected as first-team all-state for his senior year, during which he averaged 24.1 points per game. During his time at Whittier Christian, Martin was an honor student.

College career

Martin signed to play for TCU in February 1988, having already signed a

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a contract, legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a Heads of agreement ( ...

in the previous months. Under head coach

Moe Iba Henry W. "Moe" Iba (born May 31, 1939) is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Memphis State University, now known as the University of Memphis, from 1966 to 1970, Nebraska from 1980 to 1986, and Te ...

, Martin

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season in 1988–89 and received limited playing time in the 1989–90 season as a 6-foot-5, 198-pound freshman; at the end of the season he had appeared in all 29 games played by the team, starting 7 of them, and he had posted averages of 6.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 15.2 minutes per game; he was the 4th best rebounder and the 6th best scorer on his team. In April 1990 Martin announced that he was leaving TCU and transferring to another school; he chose

(which at the time was called Rancho Santiago Junior College). While at Rancho Santiago, Martin averaged 22.5 points (832 total) and 9.4 rebounds per game over 37 games (he averaged 25 points per game over 12 games of conference play), and established a program record for highest field goal percentage in a seasion with 63.7%. At the end of the season Rancho Santiago won the state championship, and Martin was selected in the All-State first team. In 2006 Martin was inducted in the Santa Ana College Hall of Fame. In 1991 Martin and junior college teammate

Corie Blount Corie Kasoun Blount (born January 4, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player born in Monrovia, California. Career A 6'9" power forward/center, Blount starred at the University of Cincinnati during the early 1990s, where he hel ...

decided to transfer to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Martin and Blount were recruited by assistant coach Steve Moeller, who had brought to the Bearcats other junior college players:

Nick Van Exel Nickey Maxwell Van Exel (born November 27, 1971) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Van Exel played for six NBA teams from 1 ...

, Terry Nelson and Herb Jones (who had transferred to Cincinnati in 1990). Martin chose jersey number 3 and in his first year with his new team he played in all 34 games of the season, being employed off the bench by coach

: he averaged 6.3 points and 4 rebounds while playing 16.4 minutes per game, and he was the 5th best scorer on the team, the 3rd best rebounder (behind Jones and Blount), and the 3rd best shotblocker (0.5 per game). The Bearcats experienced a successful season and won the Great Midwest Conference tournament, gaining access to the NCAA tournament: Martin played all 5 games of the tournament, averaging 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds, and during the Final Four he recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds against

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in a tournament-high 30 minutes of play. Martin stayed at Cincinnati also for his senior season in 1992–93. On December 11, 1992, in a game against Southeast Missouri State, Martin shot 10-for-11 from the field (90.9%), recording the 2nd-best shooting performance in Cincinnati history at the time.''2016–17 Cincinnati Basketball Media Guide'', 2016, p. 72. On January 27, 1993 Martin recorded a career-high 6 steals against Xavier. Martin ended the season averaging 13.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 27.1 minutes per game, having started all 31 games. He ranked 2nd on the team in scoring behind Van Exel, and was the team leader in rebounds and blocks per game; that year he also led the conference in field goal percentage with 60.3%. Cincinnati again qualified for the NCAA tournament, and Martin played all 4 games, recording a tournament-high 21 points against

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

on March 21, and played 42 minutes against

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on March 28, posting 16 points and 6 rebounds. In 1993 Martin was selected in the All-

Great Midwest Conference The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995. History It was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Bel ...

Second Team.

College statistics

Career summary and college stats as per Erik Martin's trading card for the 1992–93 Bearcats season. , - , align="left" , 1989–90 , align="left" , TCU , 29 , , 7 , , 15.2 , , .681 , , .500 , , .587 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 6.9 , - , align="left" , 1991–92 , align="left" ,

, 34 , , 0 , , 16.4 , , .525 , , .000 , , .561 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , 1992–93 , align="left" ,

, 31 , , 31 , , 27.1 , , .603 , , .000 , , .650 , , 6.7 , , 1.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 13.5 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 94 , , 38 , , 19.6 , , .597 , , .250 , , .611 , , 5.0 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 8.9 , -

Professional career

After the end of his senior season in 1993, Martin was automatically eligible for the 1993 NBA draft, but he was not drafted by an

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

franchise. He was selected by the

Grand Rapids Hoops The Grand Rapids Hoops were a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their first season was in 1989 and their final season was in 2003. Professional basketball later returned to Grand ...

in the 2nd round (21st overall) of the 1993 CBA draft. On October 28, 1993 Martin signed a non-guaranteed one-year contract with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

of the NBA, as a replacement for injured forward

Chris Gatling Chris Raymond Gatling (born September 3, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. Gatling played for many National Basketball Association (NBA) teams from 1991 to 2002. He played for the US national team in the 1990 FIBA Worl ...

; he was waived on November 2, and signed with the

Yakima Sun Kings The Yakima SunKings are a basketball team located in Yakima, Washington, covering the central Washington sports market of Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg and plays at the Yakima SunDome. The team competed in the Continental Basketball Associat ...

of the CBA. In his rooke season in the CBA Martin played 55 games (22 starts), averaging 11.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and also appeared in a playoff game, recording 14 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes of play. At the end of the season Martin was selected in the CBA All-Rookie First Team. For the following season Martin decided to stay with the Sun Kings, and appeared in 45 games with averages of 12.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1,8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.7 blocks per game in 26 minutes per contest; he was selected in the All-Defensive First Team and was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year, finishing behind Mike Bell. At the end of the season the Sun Kings won the league title, and Martin averaged 9.8 points and 5.7 rebounds over 14 playoff games. In the summer of 1995 Martin had shoulder surgery, and did not play a single game during the 1995–96 CBA season. Martin had then signed with the

Fort Wayne Fury The Fort Wayne Fury was a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1991 through the cessation of the CBA on February 8, 2001. History The team played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayn ...

, and was traded in June 1996 to the

Omaha Racers The Omaha Racers were an American minor league basketball team based in Omaha, Nebraska. The franchise played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1989 to 1997. The team's franchise liage started in 1982 as the Wisconsin Flyers. ...

. With the new team Martin found increased playing time, starting 22 of 47 games and averaging 9.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He also participated in postseason play, averaging 8 points and 4.6 rebounds over 9 games. In 1997 Martin signed with the

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, a new franchise that selected him during the 1997 CBA expansion draft in late May. He started the season with the Stampede; after 10 games (9 starts) during which he averaged 8.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and a career-high 3.2 assists per game, Martin joined the

La Crosse Bobcats The La Crosse Bobcats were a Continental Basketball Association basketball team located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, from 1996 to the league's bankruptcy in February 2001. The Bobcats were the second CBA team located in La Crosse; previously, the La C ...

, and played 35 games with the team, averaging 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds. Towards the end of the season he joined the Yakima Sun Kings again, and played 5 regular season games and 5 playoff games. In 2000 Martin played for the Luckipar Panthers in

. He then spent the 2000–01 season in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

with Denso Hoop Gang. Martin played for the

Seoul SK Knights The Seoul SK Knights ( ko, 서울 SK 나이츠) is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. The club was originally founded by Jinro Group in 1997 as Cheongju Jinro McCass. Before the official launch of the basketball cl ...

for the

2001–02 KBL season The 2001–02 Anycall Professional Basketball season was the sixth season of the Korean Basketball League which is held in the month of October and finishes by April of the next year. Regular season Playoffs Prize money * Daegu Tongyang ...

, averaging 14.8 points and 12.3 rebounds per game over 45 games.

National team career

Martin was called up for the

United States men's national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

for the first time in 1995 for the XII Pan American Games held in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The US national team was put together by

Mike Thibault Michael Francis Thibault (born September 28, 1950) is an American basketball head coach, formerly of the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, and now of the Washington Mystics. In 2013, Thibault became the WNBA's all time most successful coach with 212 vi ...

and included only players from the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, an American minor league: Martin was playing for the

at the time, and had just won the 1994–95 CBA season with the team. During the competition Martin played 7 games, and averaged 7.7 points and 3.9 rebounds, shooting 75.8% from the field (second on the team behind Mike Williams). At the end of the Pan American Games the United States won the silver medal, having lost the final game to

, despite Martin's 15 points and 8 rebounds. Martin received a second call-up for Team USA in 1997, and was included in the team that participated in the

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Again, the team was formed by CBA players, and Martin was a member of the

roster at the time. Martin played all 9 games during the competition, averaging 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, led the team in blocks with a total of 9 (tied with Michael McDonald), and won the gold medal. Martin ended his career in the national team with 16 total caps over a period of 2 years.

Coaching career

After the end of his professional career as a player, Martin took up coaching. He started in 2003 at Jacobs Center High School in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, and had the double role of head coach of the junior varsity team and assistant coach for the varsity team for one season. He then joined the coaching staff of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College as an assistant to head coach Andre Tate, and spent two years in the position. In August 2006 he joined

' staff at

for the 2006–07 season, on his first position in an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

program. When Huggins took up the head coach position at

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, Martin followed him: he has been working as an assistant coach since the 2007–08 season.

South Carolina State

On July 11, 2022, it was announced that Martin would become the next head coach for South Carolina State making it his first head coaching role.

Head coaching record

References

External links

College stats at Sports-Reference.comWest Virginia profileCBA stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Erik 1971 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Taiwan American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California Basketball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players Idaho Stampede (CBA) players Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches La Crosse Bobcats players Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Omaha Racers players Pan American Games medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Power forwards (basketball) Seoul SK Knights players Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball coaches Yakima Sun Kings players