Report: Chuck Martin to be new Indiana Basketball Assistant

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is reporting that Chuck Martin will be the new assistant coach to fill Kenny Johnson's shoes at Indiana University. If true, which the CBS Sports people seems very certain of, this could fulfill a lot of needs and questions that have popped up for Indiana fans about the state of recruiting.

Chuck Martin was assistant coach under John Calipari at Memphis before moving on to coach at Marist. A point guard in college, Martin knows a thing or two about the game of basketball. However, it did not reflect in his time at Marist. In five seasons, Martin went 48-118 before being fired in 2013. Still failed head coaching experiences at hard to win places are hardly a disqualifier in coaching abilities. He does have guys like Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant (spent this last season as Thunders assistant) and Ron Artest to his name.

Martin's connections to the East Coast run deep and will be a solid replacement for Kenny Johnson's ties. Still there are some questions about Indiana's ability to recruit the state that will remain to be seen. With a 2017 class that is starting to be billed as the next big class in Indiana, getting those guys on campus and into the fold will be key for the health of Indiana recruiting going forward. It will be interesting to see what Martin can do there.

We will have more as more information and confirmation comes in.