Martelli more than a basketball coach on Hawk Hill

Phil Martelli’s nerves got the of best him on a hot day in July 1995. He needed to relax and reflect. So, he drove west on Interstate 76, the same highway that now has a billboard reading “Thank You Coach Phil.” Martelli ended up at Valley Forge National Historical Park, sitting under a tree, waiting for a phone call that would change his life.

Martelli had been at St. Joe’s for 10 years serving first as an assistant under Head Coach Jim Boyle and then Head Coach John Griffin, who ultimately recommended Martelli to be his successor. Martelli had previously passed up an offer to assist Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan at the University of Virginia. He wanted to be the head men’s basketball coach at St. Joe’s.

The call eventually came from former longtime Director of Athletics Don DiJulia. On July 20, 1995, Phil Martelli became the 14th head coach in school history. Twenty-four years later, at the time of his firing, he would be the winningest coach in school history.

“Coaching at St. Joe’s was his dream,” said Jim Foster, who served as the St. Joe’s women’s basketball head coach from 1978-1991.

Foster, who is the St. Joe’s women’s basketball career wins leader, said Martelli and St. Joe’s seemed inseparable.

“The fit between St. Joe’s and Phil Martelli couldn’t have been better,” Foster said. “Phil was what Saint Joseph’s was about. I can’t think of a better representative for that university on a daily basis.”

Martelli began his coaching career the year after he graduated from Widener University, serving as an assistant men’s basketball coach at his alma mater.

Martelli then found his way to the high school ranks at the now closed Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He recruited University of Connecticut coaching legend Geno Auriemma, then assistant women’s basketball coach at St. Joe’s, to be his assistant at Kenrick. Years later Martelli returned the favor, referring Auriemma to assist Debbie Ryan at the University of Virginia, the position originally offered to Martelli.

Martelli stayed at Bishop Kenrick until 1985, after which he joined St. Joe’s, where he would remain for 34 years.

Former head men’s basketball coaches (left to right) John Griffin, Jim Boyle, Jack Ramsay, Phil Martelli, Jack McKinney, Jim Lynam. PHOTO COURTESY OF SJU ATHLETICS

“He made Saint Joseph’s, the basketball program and the university his life,” said Jim Lynam, former head men’s basketball coach and St. Joe’s Hall of Famer. “The way he did it was unprecedented, in terms of being an ambassador for the school with respect to how he involved himself in the community.”

Martelli and St. Joe’s have become synonymous, Griffin said, as Martelli’s level of devotion and loyalty to the university grew to characterize not only him but the entire Martelli family.

“His identity, his family’s identity is inextricably linked to Saint Joseph’s University,” Griffin said. “It’s not a position where you punch the clock. You have to live it, and it becomes part of who you are and the lifestyle of your family.”

While the Hawks have not made it to the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons, Martelli piled up a number of coaching successes in his tenure as head coach. In 2004 he was named the Consensus National Coach of the Year after coaching the team to an undefeated regular season, an Elite Eight appearance and a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. He has been named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year four times. He has almost double the wins of any other Hawks coach. He’s brought the Hawks to the NCAA tournament seven different times and captured three Atlantic 10 Tournament titles.

According to his peers, these accomplishments do not begin to define Martelli or the legacy he will leave at St. Joe’s, in Philadelphia and across the college basketball community. Griffin described the magnitude of Martelli’s presence on Hawk Hill, and how the most recognizable person on campus was also the best person to represent the university.

“Phil Martelli is a person who reflects the value system of Saint Joseph’s University,” Griffin said. “I’ve had faculty members call me and tell me one of the reasons they stayed at Saint Joseph’s so long was because of the way in which they see Phil Martelli carry himself and represent the university. He embodied the spirit of Saint Joseph’s University.”

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”34″ gal_title=”A Glance Through Martellis Career”]

The 2003-04 season became the calling card of the Martelli spirit. On the team were soon-to-be Hawk Hall of Famers Jameer Nelson ’18 and Delonte West. Martelli and Nelson were named Naismith Coach and Player of the Year, respectively and the Hawks even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.

In a season that Lynam dubbed “a mystical, magical story that captured the imagination of the entire college basketball nation,” Martelli had an opportunity to showcase St. Joe’s on a national stage.

Bob Hughes ’03, now the men’s basketball head coach at Rosemont College, served as a team manager during that season. Martelli affectionately nicknamed him Barney, a name Hughes has not been able to escape in the college basketball world. Hughes rose through the ranks, going from a team manager to a head coach at the college level, a position he credits Martelli with helping him achieve. He said he saw firsthand how Martelli made the essence of St. Joe’s reverberate throughout the country.

“He brought that ‘hawk will never die’ spirit to America,” Hughes said.

In addition to the records that Martelli’s 2004 team broke and the spotlight that it brought to a small Philadelphia Jesuit school, Martelli’s other passion was his leadership in the fight against cancer. Martelli served as national chair for the Coaches vs. Cancer program, which raised money for the American Cancer Society.

Martelli reacts to a referee’s call from the sidelines during a game against Temple University. PHOTO: LUKE MALANGA ’20/THE HAWK

As co-chair with former Temple University men’s basketball Head Coach Fran Dunphy for the Philadelphia Coaches vs. Cancer chapter, the duo led a team of Philadelphia area coaches to become one of the top fundraising groups in the country. Dunphy and Martelli were honored with the Circle of Honor award in 2017 for “their extraordinary commitment to the American Cancer Society’s mission.”

According to Lynam, a Big 5 Hall of Famer himself, Dunphy and Martelli’s ability to impact something greater than basketball was unlike anything he’s seen. 

“I’ve known a lot of really good people who have been good coaches over the years in the city of Philadelphia,” Lynam said. “But the way Phil went about what he did was unique. The way Phil and Fran Dunphy went about raising money for Coaches vs. Cancer Philadelphia, it’s kind of the flagship for how you get it done, and that’s because of Phil.”

With the departure of two of its most storied coaches this season, the Big 5, according to Griffin, will never be the same.

“Big 5 basketball and basketball in Philadelphia has been about tradition, and he’s done such a great job of carrying on that tradition,” Griffin said. “Not only will he be missed, but frankly impossible to replace.”

Martelli’s career at St. Joe’s spanned five university presidents. His visage on the sidelines in Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena was a constant for many fans, players and alumni.

“I just can’t imagine a world where Phil Martelli is not the head men’s basketball coach at St. Joe’s,” Hughes said.

Martelli’s predecessors, Lynam and Griffin said Martelli has left a long-lasting reputation at St. Joe’s.

“Phil will be viewed in beyond a positive light for the contributions that he made both on the basketball court, with the players and on behalf of the university over a lifetime of service,” Lynam said.

Griffin echoed that sentiment.

“He’ll go down, for a long time, as the winningest coach at this university,” Griffin said. “But 20 years down the road, I think the legacy will more so be about the person. We’re better for it, that he stayed here 24 years. We’re all beneficiaries of that because people will talk about the contributions of Phil for a long time.”