Martin was previously the head coach of the University of South Carolina men's basketball team for ten seasons.

He decided to become a full-time basketball coach in 1992 as a result of an incident in which he was subjected to gunfire, while on duty, from a group of men whom he had ejected for fighting.

[3] At the same time, he had begun his career in basketball as the head coach of the boys' junior varsity squad at Miami High School in 1985.

He served in that position for eight years until he was appointed to his first varsity coaching job at North Miami High School after he completed his studies at FIU in 1993.

[4] Under his watch, the Stingarees won three consecutive state championships from 1996 to 1998 with teams featuring future NBA players Udonis Haslem and Steve Blake.

The last of those titles was later vacated due to recruiting violations involving school employees and boosters who gave housing assistance to the players.

[4] On April 6, 2007, almost a year to the day after his arrival in Manhattan, Martin was named head coach of the Wildcats in the wake of Huggins' resignation.

[8] On March 26, 2012, in a text message to ESPN, Martin confirmed he had accepted the head coach position at South Carolina.

During the 2013–14 season, Martin issued a public apology to fans and players on January 21, 2014, after a verbal tirade during the team's loss to Ole Miss.

On March 6, 2014, USC Athletic Director Ray Tanner suspended Martin for the final game of the regular season for further "inappropriate verbal communication" with players.

After a loss to St. Joseph's, Martin used his postgame press conference to criticize members of the UMass fan base for what he described as their attacks on social media.

Conference tournament champion Martin is married to Anya Forrest, a former star athlete and alumna of the University of Massachusetts.