By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer

Bob Huggins first met Frank Martin in 1990 when the University of Cincinnati basketball coach was recruiting center Cesar Portillo out of Palm Beach (Fla.) Community College.

At the time, Martin was an assistant coach at Miami Senior High School, which Portillo had attended.

Portillo decided against attending UC, but the two coaches made an impression on each other and began a relationship that has led to a spot for Martin on UC's staff as an assistant coach. He began working for Huggins on Wednesday.

Martin replaces associate head coach Dan Peters, who left in July to work for Thad Matta at Ohio State.

"We just developed a friendship that continued to grow throughout the years," Martin said of Huggins.

Martin, 38, has spent the last four years at Northeastern University in Boston, the last three under head coach Ron Everhart. It was his first college coaching job.

Northeastern, which plays in the America East Conference, was 19-11 last season, improving from 7-21 in Everhart's first season.

Everhart, another Huggins friend, interviewed for the UC job before Martin but decided to withdraw from consideration. After he did, he told Martin he thought Huggins would approach him next.

Martin was ready. He said he talked to Huggins about an assistant's job in 1999 after Mick Cronin left, but Huggins instead turned to longtime friend Peters, then head coach at Youngstown State.

"That was his guy," Martin said. "He had worked with him before. That was fine. I understood."

Unlike Peters, Martin will be involved heavily in recruiting. In fact, his recruiting abilities were a major reason why he got the job. He also will work with the UC big men.

"We needed an East Coast presence going into the Big East," Huggins said. "He gives us that. He's got great ties in the state of Florida, so he'll be able to get us into a recruiting area that previously we weren't able to get into."

As a head coach at Miami Senior, Martin posted a 102-10 record and won three Florida 6A state titles. He said he always admired Huggins and the way he ran his program.

"When you deal with Coach Huggins in recruiting, it's a very impressive thing," Martin said. "It's not a phony sales pitch. He makes you understand the rich tradition that's here, what a great situation it is. I always thought it was a great place as a high school coach to see your kids go play at."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com