2004 Consensus National Coach of the Year Click here for Phil Martelli's complete bio in PDF format. In 13 years at Saint Joseph's, Phil Martelli has built a program that is consistently one of the top in the conference, a perennial post-season participant and a key player on the national scene, while earning his place among the top coaches in the school's storied history. The 2007-08 Hawks reached the Atlantic 10 Championship game for the third time in four years and earned the program's 19th bid to the NCAA Tournament, and Martelli's fifth. The 11th-seeded Hawks fell to sixth-seeded Oklahoma in the NCAA First Round, while ending the year at 21-13. Martelli reached a significant milestone in 2006-07, when he surpassed Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay for second place on the school's all-time list for wins. His 13-year career mark now stands at 261-152, while he ranks fourth in career winning percentage (.633) among SJU coaches. Setting the school record for wins in a season (30) in 2004, Martelli has guided SJU to 20 or more victories six times in 13 seasons. More impressively, his teams have gone 180-81 in the past eight seasons, an average of 23 wins per year. He is 132-76 in Atlantic 10 play, which is the most conference wins for any active coach in the A-10. Martelli has also been at his best when it counts the most as his 17 postseason wins (6 NCAA, 11 NIT) are the most in school history, ahead of Ramsay's 12. Martelli ranks first among Hawk coaches with a .653 postseason winning percentage (17-9) and has taken SJU to the postseason in seven of the last eight years, and nine times in his 13 seasons. Martelli turned in another top-notch coaching performance in 2005-06, as the Hawks went from a 10-12 record in February to win eight consecutive games to reach the Atlantic 10 championship game for the second year in a row, falling just one point short of the title. The Hawks were rewarded with their sixth consecutive postseason bid, but saw the season come to an end in the NIT Second Round, closing with a 19-14 mark. Martelli's effort was similar to the previous season where he turned in perhaps a more remarkable coaching job than in 2003-04 when he was the consensus National Coach of the Year. Faced with the loss of two NBA first-round draft picks from the `03-04 squad that went 30-2, the 2004-05 Hawks struggled early on, but Martelli reworked the team's style of play to guide SJU to 21 wins in the calendar year of 2005 to finish 24-12. Saint Joseph's posted the conference's best record (14-2) and won its fifth straight regular-season title to tie the league record. The Hawks garnered the top seed in the conference tournament for the second year in a row and reached the championship game. He was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the second straight season and the fourth time in his career. The Hawks earned their fifth consecutive postseason bid and made an exciting six-game run in the NIT, falling on a last-second shot in the championship game. It marked the second time in his career that he had guided SJU to the NIT title game. In the summer of 2005, Martelli served as the head coach of the 2005 USA Under-21 World Championship Team, which competed at the FIBA U21 World Championship in Argentina, earning a fifth-place finish. It was the coach's third assignment with USA Basketball having served as a USA assistant coach for gold-medal winning teams at both the 2001 FIBA World Championship for Young Men and the 1998 Goodwill Games. In 2003-04, Martelli guided a focused and unselfish squad that became the most compelling story in college basketball. The Hawks went undefeated in the regular season, reached the pinnacle as the top-ranked team in the nation and earned the school's first-ever number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament, while advancing to the Elite Eight. Jameer Nelson was the consensus National Player of the Year and with teammate Delonte West, were both first-round selections in the NBA Draft. SJU opened the season ranked 12th in the polls and moved up throughout the year, taking the top spot on March 8, 2004, for the first time ever, while finishing fifth in the polls, for SJU's highest final ranking since 1966. It was a school-record fourth straight season, and fifth in Martelli's tenure, that the Hawks were ranked in the AP poll and marked SJU's first back-to-back NCAA berths since 1982. Martelli joined with Nelson to sweep the national coach and player awards, marking one of the few times in history that the top player and coach were from the same school. In addition to the national awards, he was the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the third time and a repeat winner of the Big 5 Coach of the Year. The SJU squad was the recipient of the prestigious Wanamaker Award in Philadelphia and was named the Team of the Year by the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association. One of the more colorful coaches in the nation, Martelli's personality, wit and accessibility have always made him a media favorite. His popularity grew to an even higher level in 2004, as the Hawks remained unbeaten and the coach was besieged by media requests from all over the country. Martelli remained as accommodating as ever and the Saint Joseph's story was well documented by the Philadelphia press and told by countless media outlets nationwide. Martelli will add a new title to his resume in 2007, that of "author". The coach has co-written a book, "Don't Call Me Coach: A Lesson Plan for Life" with Harold Gullan, Ph.D. The book will be published in the fall of 2007. Martelli's commitment to Saint Joseph's is equaled by the University's commitment to him. The coach agreed to a new contract prior to the 2003-04 season and then in September 2004, the University extended the coach's contract even further, through the 2011-12 season. Martelli is not only passionate for coaching, but also for his work in the community. He is one of the leaders of the Philadelphia chapter of Coaches vs. Cancer, as the coaches from the city's six Division I schools strive to raise awareness and funding to defeat the disease. The Philadelphia Coaches are one of the top fund-raising groups in the country and have dedicated themselves to taking it to an even higher level. He's received numerous honors for his community work, and was named the 2004 "Citizen of the Year" by the March of Dimes, inducted into the CYO Hall of Fame for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and honored by the National Adoption Center. His alma mater, Widener University, bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate in public service in May 2004, while he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Cabrini College in May 2006. A 1976 graduate of Widener, 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 at Saint Joseph's, Martelli was named the 14th coach in school history on July 20, 1995, and just the third non-alumnus to follow in the storied tradition of SJU coaches. Martelli burst onto the scene in his first season (1995-96) and took the squad to the NIT championship game. He followed that in 1996-97 with the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles, along with a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16. More NCAA berths came in 2001 and 2003. Prior to his arrival at SJU, Martelli spent seven years as head basketball coach at Bishop Kenrick High School and had a stint as assistant coach at Widener, helping guide the Pioneers to the 1978 NCAA Division III Final Four. As a point guard at Widener, he was part of the NCAA Tournament teams in 1974-75 and 1975-76, and set the school's single season and career assist marks. Martelli and his wife Judy, a former basketball player with the legendary Immaculata College teams, have three children. Phil, Jr., a 2003 SJU graduate, is an assistant basketball coach at Niagara University, Jimmy is an assistant coach at Robert Morris University, and Elizabeth is a sophomore at Saint Joseph's. |
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