Kentucky, John Calipari formally announce addition of assistant Chuck Martin

The reports are officially true: Oregon basketball assistant Chuck Martin is heading east to join John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky. The school announced the news Thursday afternoon, writing on the team website:

“The Kentucky men’s basketball team has rounded out its coaching staff with the hiring of Chuck Martin as assistant coach, head coach John Calipari announced Thursday.”

Then, here was a statement from Coach Calipari on the new assistant he has just hired:

“Chuck is a veteran in this profession who will be a great benefit to our team and staff. He has ties not only to me when we were on staff at Memphis together but also to several other members of our staff. Chuck is an established coach who will be our assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, looking to open new doors to make our successful recruiting even stronger.”

The interesting part here is Calipari naming Martin the recruiting coordinator. Obviously, recruiting is a massive and primary part of John Calipari’s coaching philosophy, so this position isn’t given out lightly.

As for Martin himself, he’s just excited for the opportunity to share a bench at a program like Kentucky.

“I’m extremely excited to be reunited with Coach Cal,” Martin said. “I’m looking forward to joining his tremendous staff and being a part of something greater than myself.”

The website post with the Martin news also gave a brief job description of what he’ll be doing as part of the staff. Take a look:

“Martin will be tasked with providing strategies to help advance the program while offering additional counsel on all aspects of the program including recruiting, scouting, player development and special projects as assigned by the head coach. As recruiting coordinator, he will independently manage official and unofficial visits and be responsible for all recruiting strategy for the program.”

Wow, it really sounds like Kentucky is handing the keys to recruiting over to Chuck Martin. His performance will be massive for the ‘Cats going forward.

Lastly, for those curious what Martin was up to before coming to Kentucky, go ahead and take a look at this short bio on his career, courtesy of UK Athletics:

“Martin adds more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Wildcats’ staff, most recently serving as an assistant this past season on Dana Altman’s staff at Oregon, where he worked with All-Pac-12 First Team pick N’Faly Dante. Prior to Oregon, Martin spent five seasons on staff at South Carolina, serving as assistant coach for four season and another as associate head coach. With the Gamecocks, Martin helped develop 2018 Southeastern Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year and All-SEC First Team selection Chris Silva along with 2019 SEC Sixth Man of the Year Hassani Gravett.

“From 2014-17, Martin was an assistant at Indiana, where he helped the Hoosiers to two NCAA Tournament selections and a Big Ten championship in 2016. Prior to his time in Bloomington, Martin spent a year as a scout with the Oklahoma City Thunder after he was head coach at Marist from 2008-13 and an assistant on Calipari’s staff at Memphis from 2006-08. While serving under Calipari at Memphis, the Tigers went 71-6, reaching the 2008 NCAA Championship game and having three players, including first overall pick Derrick Rose, selected in the 2008 NBA Draft.”

Quite a coaching track record and a history with Calipari for Coach Martin. From the way it looks, he should be a solid and seamless addition to the staff.