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South Carolina hires a new assistant basketball coach

Will Bailey comes to USC from Saint Louis.
Credit: WLTX

Frank Martin has filled the vacancy on his coaching staff with the hiring of Will Bailey as his newest assistant coach.

Bailey spent the past four seasons on the staff at Saint Louis. Before that, he was an assistant at La Salle, East Tennessee State, Maine and Chicago State. The Chicago native has more than 15 years of experience at the Division I level.

"I'm excited to add Will Bailey to our staff; he is a perfect fit," Martin said in a statement. 

"We have known each other since our America East days when I was at Northeastern and he was at Maine. He has a relentless work ethic that he uses in recruiting and player development. It is no surprise that everywhere he goes the program starts to win."

Martin had said he would not be hiring an unknown quantity to his staff in that it would be someone who has an intimate knowledge of how Martin likes to run a program. He had a long list of candidates which was whittled down to a select few with Bailey getting the call.

"I'm very excited to be joining Coach Martin's staff here at the University of South Carolina. He is well respected in the college coaching community and in the SEC," Bailey said in a statement. 

"The University of South Carolina is an outstanding institution with a great reputation for both athletics and academics. Coach Martin has built a great culture here and has a vision for the future of which I am proud to become a part of. I am super excited about this opportunity."

Before his four years at Saint Louis, Bailey was at LaSalle for six seasons where one of the players he coached was former Gamecock Ramon Galloway who transferred to the Philadelphia school and developed into an All-Atlantic 10 player.

Bailey also spent seven seasons as an assistant at ETSU under his former coach Murray Bartow, along with one year stops at Maine and Chicago State.

Prior to his time coaching, Bailey played two seasons at UAB (1995-97) and served as team captain of the 1996-97 squad that reached the NIT. He was also selected as the team's top defensive player in 1997. Bailey spent two seasons at Parkland College, helping his team to a No. 1 ranking and the NJCAA National Tournament in 1994, and in 1995, Bailey averaged 18 points per game, led the nation in assists and was a first-team all-conference selection. He was inducted into the Parkland College Hall of Fame in 2019.

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