Report: Mike Martin Will Be Next Brown Coach
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Jon Rothstein from CBSsports.com tweeted Wednesday that, "Penn assistant Mike Martin will be the next head coach at Brown." The University has made no official announcement and efforts by GoLocalProv.com to reach both Martin and new Brown athletic director Jack Hayes were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Rothstein's colleague at CBSsports.com Jeff Goodman tweeted later Wednesday, "Penn asst Mike Martin to Brown NOT a done deal, per multiple sources. He's a finalist, but Brown AD Jack Hayes still has not made a decision."
It seems strange that two people covering the same sport for the same organization would tweet completely opposite reports. Goodman's tweet seems to be consistent with word coming out of Brown where Hayes returned to his home in Long Island Tuesday night without making a decision. However, Goodman tweeted the very same thing when GoLocalProv.com first reported that Dan Hurley was offered the job at URI and was going to accept. In that case, his sources were wrong and he was behind the news cycle. Are Rothstein's sources accurate? Is it a fait accompli that Martin is Hayes' choice to lead the Brown program and that an announcement will be forthcoming next week?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIf Rothstein's report is accurate, Martin would be returning to his alma mater where he was very good player for some very successful teams early last decade. Martin played for former coach Glen Miller and was a member of the team that won 17 games in 2002-2003 including a (12-2) record in Ivy League games. That team went to the NIT where they lost to Virginia in the opening round.
As a senior, Martin captained the 2003-2004 team which also had a winning record. In fact, Martin's teams had winning records in all four of his seasons on college hill which is the only time in the program's history that it has had four consecutive winning seasons.
Martin's coaching career began at Brown where he was a restricted earnings coach for Miller whom he eventually followed to Penn following the 2005-2006 season. In his first season under Miller at Penn, the Quakers won the Ivy League title and went to the NCAA Tournament.
A few years later, Penn fired Miller and replaced him with Jerome Allen. Martin remained on Allen's staff where he continues to be an assistant coach. Allen appears to value Martin's input a great deal as he often consults with him first during timeouts.
Some of the other candidates who interviewed for the job were contacted by the school and told that a decision had not been made and would likely be made next week. That would certainly fly in the face of Rothstein's tweet.
With the holiday weekend and graduation taking place at Brown this weekend, it is unlikely that any announcement will be coming from the school until at least the middle of next week.
Hayes first official day on the job is said to be June 1st although he has been actively leading this search for a new men's basketball coach.