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

Matt McMahon

As they’ve done in the past, specifically when they hired Darin Horn in 2008 from Western Kentucky, it may be the best move to just pluck one of the hot names off the mid-major market. No matter the year, there’s always a couple of young coaches on the rise, ready to make their mark at the power conference schools and McMahon is certainly the crown jewel this time around.

McMahon played and spent nearly a decade coaching at Appalachian State, so he’s already familiar with the Carolinas. After a brief stint at UNC Wilmington, he’s been at Murray State for over a decade, serving as head coach since 2015. McMahon has just led the Racers to a third NCAA Tournament trip and is revered for bringing unheralded prospect Ja Morant to the program and turning him into a star.

Whether or not this is the year or this is the job, McMahon is clearly ready for a power conference job and could do outstanding work at South Carolina. If he can find someone like Morant with the resources at an OVC program, then it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t be able to build together some solid teams with the Gamecocks. At this point, it may boil down to which job intrigues McMahon the most.