ESPN - Martin To Gamecocks

Reports: Frank Martin to Gamecocks

Updated: March 26, 2012, 2:55 PM ET

ESPN.com news services

South Carolina and Kansas State coach Frank Martin have agreed to a contract less than two weeks after the Gamecocks fired coach Darrin Horn, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

Martin, 45, is under contract with Kansas State through 2015 after signing an extension two years ago.

It was unclear what the parameters of any deal with South Carolina were.

According to The State of Columbia, S.C., South Carolina trustees have called a meeting to discuss "a contractual matter." The Kansas City Star also has reported Martin's hire, citing an unnamed source close to the coach.

Martin is a native of Miami and coached high school basketball there for 15 years. He joined Northeastern University as an assistant coach in 2000 before working in the same capacity for Cincinnati and Kansas State. He was named coach of the Wildcats in 2007 and has led Kansas State to three straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Martin earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Florida International in 1993.

Martin made headlines Monday for another reason as well. Speaking during Sunday's broadcast of the NCAA tournament on CBS, he said that he regularly paid collegiate players who had played for him in high school when they had nowhere else to turn.

Martin spent seven years at the helm of three high school teams in the 1990s before joining Northeastern University as an assistant coach.

Working as an analyst on the telecast Sunday, Martin seemed to be making a case for better compensating collegiate players in need as he defended Kansas State senior Jamar Samuels, who was held out of the Wildcats' final game because of an eligibility concern.

"I coached 16 years in the same inner city in Miami that I grew up in. Do you know how much money I sent to kids that played for me in high school when they were in college because I knew where they came from?" Martin said, according to a transcript of the broadcast published by the Kansas City Star. "I knew they didn't have a father figure."