Phil Martelli

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Phil Martelli (born August 31, 1954) is an American college basketball coach and current coach of the Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball team. He has led Saint Joseph's to five NCAA Tournaments and five NITs in 16 seasons.

Playing career

Martelli was a point guard for Widener University. As point guard, he was part of the Division III NCAA Tournament teams in 1974-75 and 1975–76, and set the school's single season and career assist marks.

Career at Saint Joseph's

Martelli began his career on Hawk Hill with SJU's 1985-86 NCAA Tournament team. In his decade as an assistant, he was part of the Hawks' NIT teams in 1992-93 and 1994-95. After 10 years as an assistant under Jim Boyle and John Griffin, Martelli was named the 14th coach in school history on July 20, 1995, and just the third non-alumnus to coach the school.

In his first season as head coach (1995–96) his team reached the final game of the NIT Tournament. In his second year, under the floor generalship of Junior point guard Rashid Bey, and help from Arthur "Yah" Davis and Dmitri Domani, Martelli's Hawks captured the Atlantic 10 crown and made it into the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament. They would not duplicate that success until landing future Naismith College Player of the Year Jameer Nelson and current NBA players Delonte West and Dwayne Jones. With Nelson as point guard, Martelli led the 2003-04 Hawks to a 27-0 regular season. The Hawks lost to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, and reached the Elite Eight, ultimately losing to Oklahoma State to finish with a record of 30-2. That year, Martelli was named Naismith College Coach of the Year. In 2004-05, Martelli led the Hawks back to the final game of the NIT, where they lost to South Carolina. In 2005-06, the Hawks returned to the NIT, eventually losing to Hofstra University. In 2008, Martelli led Saint Joseph's to its first NCAA Tournament since 2004 with a team led by Pat Calathes and Ahmad Nivins.

Coach Martelli also surpassed Hawk legend Dr. Jack Ramsay for second among SJU coaches in wins 2008. He is fourth among SJU coaches with a winning percentage of .633. Martelli has won the most postseason games of any Hawk coach and his teams have averaged 23 wins over the course of the last eight seasons.

In 2007, Phil Martelli's first book Don't Call Me Coach: A Lesson Plan For Life was published. Students at SJU often say "In Martelli We Trust" about their beloved basketball coach. Martelli has a weekly show during the basketball season called "Hawk Talk" which discusses the standing of the university and the basketball team.

In October 2008, Martelli signed a contract extension that will keep him at St. Joe's through the 2015-16 season.^[1]

In December 2011, Martelli was referenced in an article on SI.com in which former player Todd O'Brien details his side of a story about his former coach holding a grudge. O'Brien has applied for a graduate student waiver, where he is allowed to transfer to pursue a post graduate degree in a field not offered by their original institution, but SJU will not release him to play. The NCAA denied O'Brien's appeal and SJU is legally unable to comment on the details of the case.^[2] Martelli refuses to honor O'Briens request and is keeping him in his contract for undisclosed reasons. Martelli has been universally characterized by most reporters as being unreasonable about this for holding a grudge against O'Brien.^[3]

With a win against Morgan State in 2011, Martelli became the all-time winningest coach in Saint Joseph's history with his 310th victory.

Coaching Tree

Numerous assistants of Martelli have gone on to become coaches at other programs.

• Matt Brady - Former head coach at Marist College. Current head coach at James Madison University
• Monte Ross - Head coach at the University of Delaware
• Mike Rice Jr. - Former head coach at Robert Morris University, current head coach at Rutgers University
• Doug Overton - Assistant coach for the New Jersey Nets
• Jimmy Martelli - Assistant coach at Rutgers University

Players Drafted Under Martelli

• Jameer Nelson (2004, 20th overall)
• Delonte West (2004, 24th overall)
• Ahmad Nivins (2009, 56th overall)

Head coaching record

Career highlights

• Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1997, 2001, 2004, 2005)
• Naismith College Coach of the Year (2004)
• Associated Press Coach of the Year (2004)
• 2004 Rupp Cup
• 2004 Chevrolet Coach of the Year
• 2004 Henry Iba Award (USBWA)
• 2004 NABC Co-Coach of the Year
• Head coach, Saint Joseph's University (1995–present)
• Head coach, 2005 USA Basketball Under 21 World Championship Team
• NCAA berths: 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008

References

External links

• Phil Martelli Bio