South Carolina Basketball: 7 candidates to replace Frank Martin as head coach

BJ McKie

If we’re leaning back towards people with connections to South Carolina, then we might just have the ideal candidate. McKie has never been a collegiate head coach, but he starred for the Gamecocks back in the late 90’s and might be ready to take his alma mater back to higher heights.

After a long playing career, both domestic and abroad, McKie returned to the States and began his coaching career on staff at Charleston Southern. After six years with the Buccaneers, McKie joined Steve Forbes’ staff at East Tennessee State, helping lead that program to a whole host of success over the next three years. McKie followed Forbes to Wake Forest in 2020 and has been on that ACC staff these last two seasons.

Despite no head coaching experience, McKie has a ton of playing experience and connections throughout the game, not to mention his deep-rooted connections to South Carolina. He has experience on a power conference coaching staff the last two seasons and Wake Forest has taken some big steps forward in that time. There’s never any guarantee hiring someone without previous head coaching experience, but McKie would be an intriguing gamble.