Former USC basketball player Brandon Martin hired as athletic director at Cal State Northridge

LOS ANGELES – Former Southern California basketball player Brandon Martin has been hired as athletic director at Cal State Northridge.

University President Dianne F. Harrison announced the move Monday. Martin will begin his new job on April 1.

He will oversee an athletic program that includes a $9 million budget and about 350 student-athletes in eight men's and 10 women's sports.

Martin comes from Oklahoma, where he has been senior associate athletic director for administration overseeing men's basketball, among other sports. He helped hire Lon Krueger as coach of the Sooners' men's basketball team. Martin previously had a similar job at USC, where he was a three-year starter before playing professionally in China and Venezuela.

Martin will be one of a small number of blacks who head Division I athletic programs. He holds a doctorate in higher education administration from USC.

The 39-year-old returns to the Los Angeles area, where he starred for Cleveland High's basketball team in the early 1990s in Reseda. His coach at the time was Bobby Braswell, who is now coaching the Northridge men's team.