Martin to coach South Carolina basketball
COLUMBIA, S.C., March 27 (UPI) -- Frank Martin has been named the men's basketball coach at South Carolina, leaving a Kansas State program he led to the NCAA Tournament four times in five years.
Martin, 46, is the 32nd men's basketball coach at South Carolina, the school announced Tuesday.
Martin, who had three seasons remaining on his Kansas State contract, reportedly agreed to a six-year, $11.9 million deal with South Carolina. He was being paid about $1.2 million a season at Kansas State.
He replaces Darrin Horn, who was fired two weeks ago after South Carolina completed a 10-21 season (2-14 in the Southeastern Conference). In four seasons under Horn, the Gamecocks were 60-63, with a 23-41 mark in the SEC.
Martin took over at Kansas State in 2007 after Bob Huggins, who was in Manhattan, Kan., for one season, left the Wildcats to coach West Virginia. Ironically, West Virginia will play Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference next season.
The Kansas State position was Martin's first collegiate head coaching job. The Wildcats were 117-54, with a 50-32 Big 12 record, with Martin as coach. Kansas State went to the NCAA Tournament each season under Martin except his second, when the Wildcats took a National Invitation Tournament berth.
Payton looking at suspension options
PALM BEACH, Fla., March 27 (UPI) -- New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton said "all options" are being considered in the final week before his yearlong suspension is to begin.
Payton was suspended for one year by the NFL, which handed down a series of penalties related to the Saints' alleged "bounty" system in which players were rewarded for injuring opponents.
Payton's suspension is to begin Sunday.
"We're just considering all options," Payton said at the NFL owners' meeting in Florida.
"We're doing our homework on each option. There's a lot of small steps before we make that decision. A lot of it is predicated on whether there is an appeal or not."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Payton could continue working with the Saints during any appeals process.
Payton said he planned to meet with Bill Parcells, for whom Payton worked while coaching the Dallas Cowboys. Parcells is seen as a potential interim head coach while Payton serves his suspension.
Also apparently in the running to lead New Orleans in 2012 are offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who was fired last season after three years as head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
"Fortunately, we feel like we've got a number of good candidates," Payton said. "The trick then is what it does to affect their roles that they currently have."
Payton said he was "100 percent certain" he will coach the Saints in 2013.
Dickey writes of childhood sexual abuse
NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) -- New York Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey writes in a new memoir of being sexually abused as a child by a babysitter beginning when he was 8 years old.
In the memoir, an excerpt of which was published in Sports Illustrated, Dickey said he kept the abuse to himself until he was 31.
"I just keep my terrible secret, keep it all inside, the details of what went on, and the hurt of a little boy who is scared and ashamed and believes he has done something terribly wrong, but doesn't know what that is," Dickey writes, recalling the sexual abuse by the teenage girl who babysat him and sexually abused him several times in Nashville.
In his book, "Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball," written with Wayne Coffey of the New York Daily News, Dickey said he was also once abused by a 17-year-old boy, the Daily News reported.
Dickey, 37, had spent 14 years in the minors and has achieved stunning success on the mound in the past two seasons with his knuckleball.
Dickey dedicates the book to his wife, Anne, and their four children.
Remorse over the affair had him contemplating suicide in the winter of 2005-06, Dickey writes. He says his wife's faith, forgiveness and love helped sustain him.
Ga. Tech tennis coach held on rape charge
ATLANTA, March 27 (UPI) -- The assistant men's tennis coach at Georgia Tech was being held without bond Tuesday, charged with raping a woman in his apartment.
Conor Pollock, 24, was arrested by Atlanta police Saturday and was placed on administrative leave Monday by Georgia Tech, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Police said Pollock approached a 23-year-old woman leaving an Atlanta bar and invited her to his apartment, and she and a female friend went.
The victim told police she remembered being at the apartment and when she awoke, Pollock was raping her, police said.
Pollock was arrested about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, police said. He was also charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana.
In a statement, Georgia Tech said Pollock was put on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Pollock, who replaced former assistant tennis coach Aljosa Piric in August, had run an elite junior tennis program in Austin, Texas, before coming to Tech. He had competed on the ATP circuit for more than a year and played college tennis at Texas A&M where he was a three-time All-American.
