The South Carolina basketball program is #blessed. Not only have the men's and women's teams combined for a 11-1 start in SEC play, but both programs are captained by individuals who have reached the upper pantheon of elite tweeters among head coaches.
Coaches and social media are a potentially frightening combination. Twitter is a powerful tool and, when employed effectively, can do wonders to promote a program and to connect with a fanbase. On the spectrum of coaches and their varying levels of disconnect with social media, there are generally three distinct regions.
On the far left you have the Nick Sabans and Bill Belichiks of the world. These are the proud, righteous fogies who will never find any utility in social media. If a Twitter egg were to hatch in their lap, they would sooner twist the chick's gullet into licorice before they would even try to engage with it. At least they know they are fogies.
Then you have the coaches who either don't run their own accounts or probably shouldn't. The ones in this region, who actually generate their own content, profoundly misunderstand Twitter — it is in fact not a platform to recite maxims from the John Wooden or Vince Lombardi book you just read for the 71st time.
On the opposite end you have the coaches who will tweet shamelessly to convince the world that they are hip. Author's Note: see Jim Harbaugh @CoachJim4UM, no explanation needed.
Fortunately for South Carolina fans, Dawn Staley and Frank Martin don't reside on that spectrum of bad coach tweeting. They are two of the rare coaches, and Twitter users in general for that matter, who generate unique content that actually represents their real personalities.
So who has the most dominant Twitter game on campus?
Frank Martin
@FrankMartin_SC
Tweets: 9,879
Followers: 57,700
Joined: May 2011
Frank Martin handles Twitter like he handles his players. He is brutally honest, and there is no shelter if you cross him.
After South Carolina defeated Florida on Jan. 18, one bitter Florida fan with no fewer than 10 alligator emojis in his bio tweeted that "Nobody cares".
It did not make a difference to Martin that @tribble_nathan is still wearing braces in the banner picture on his bio. Frank Martin does not take prisoners:
Really? We had 17000 ppl at the game last night. U have 3 followers. So ppl don't care about... hmmmmm https://t.co/pIiZDHQ17P
— Frank Martin (@FrankMartin_SC) January 19, 2017
Even Martin's own players aren't immune to his broad path of Twitter carnage:
Me: What's The Call @FrankMartin_SC ?
— Rah Felder (@juicecrew_rah) January 17, 2017
Frank: You're The Point Guard!
Me: You Said Shoot!? #GamecockNation pic.twitter.com/2z0ru6CZyi
Arena: horn sounds
— Frank Martin (@FrankMartin_SC) January 17, 2017
Me: come sit right here@juicecrew_rah : https://t.co/sIgm57vylB
Martin is also the engineer of the hashtag #MartinsMathClub, which he has used to promote his program to teach math to kindergartners by demonstrating connections between basic arithmetic and basketball.
TY. Winning/losing games r important 4 my job status. Helping young people is important 4 my life status #MartinsMathClub https://t.co/k95wcd2ZkP
— Frank Martin (@FrankMartin_SC) November 29, 2016
Frank Martin is an elite Tweeter as far as coaches go. He fearlessly defends his program and engages with fans. He is the anti-catfish — his online persona mirrors the way he converses and interacts in real life. His tweets are raw, unfiltered and overtly passionate. At times he will lapse into political discourse, typically a social media no-no from a public relations standpoint, but only in cases where he is informed and qualified to talk about specific issues. Martin frequently shares insight on his family's experience leaving Communist Cuba under the Castro regime.
Dawn Staley
@dawnstaley
Tweets: 31,600+
Followers: 44,300
Joined: Jan. 2009
Staley is a high volume tweeter, having amassed an incredible 31,600 tweets since joining in 2009. Her style isn't as confrontational or colorful as Martin's. She runs her account like a director of a marketing or public relations division. Her interactions are calculated and meaningful. She retweets frequently, but not excessively and not without purpose.
Staley's account offers insight into the lives of her players and staff off the court. She often uses her account to chronicle the service activities her team performs to spread goodwill for the program.
While most of @GamecockWBB staff and players have traveled home-we stood in the gap by dropping off gifts to 3 families in Allendale, SC pic.twitter.com/lMp9oYYTO7
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) December 22, 2016
Staley also possesses a vast repertoire of emojis. She flawlessly incorporates an array of smiley face, muscle and one hundred other emojis into her tweets.
Happy born day @iDreamOfTiffany!!! Hope it is as sweet as when @Beyonce came over to us and touched our hands in the beyhive pit! https://t.co/7SJ2K1sAID
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) January 21, 2017
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) January 15, 2017
Verdict
Staley is a master promoter, using Twitter as a platform to support her program while also giving her fans a view into her team's everyday life. That said, Martin really lets his personality shine through. Both Staley and Martin are must-follows, but Martin's burns and disses makes him the undisputed Twitter king of campus.