By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Saint Joseph’s Hawks announced the men’s basketball team will have a new leader. The school fired long-time head coach Phil Martelli on Tuesday.
The 64-year-old was named the Hawks’ head coach in 1995. A national search will begin for a replacement immediately.
The Hawks have a goal of naming his replacement in the next several weeks.
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He was one of the longest-tenured coaches in the country, before being fired. Presently there are six coaches, who were hired around Martelli’s hiring date of 1995-96 season, or before.
The Belmont Bruins hired Rick Byrd for the 1996-97 season. The Lafayette Leopards hired Frank O’Hanlon for the 1995-96 season.
The Michigan State Spartans hired Tom Izzo for the 1995-96 season, as well.
Only three coaches were hired before those three. The Davidson Wildcats hired Bob McKillop for the 1989-90 season. The Oakland Golden Grizzlies hired Greg Kampe for the 1984-85 season.
The longest-tenured coach in college basketball is Coach K. The Duke Blue Devils hired Mike Krzyzewski for the 1980-81 season.
Martelli was the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year four times. He also won numerous awards in 2004, including AP Coach of the Year, Naismith Coach of the Year, Henry Iba Award, Jim Phelan Award, and Adolph Rupp Cup.
He also was the NABC Coach of the Year co-winner in 2004.
This season, the team went 14-19 on the season. They also had a 6-12 conference record.
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One year ago, the Hawks finished at .500 with a 16-16 record. This decade, St. Joseph’s had three losing seasons.
In 2016-17, they went 11-20. That was their first losing season since an 11-22 season in 2010-11.
As the Hawks leader, he went 444-328. He also had a 218-175 conference record.
His last NCAA Tournament berth with the school came in 2016. He had eight NCAA appearances in his tenure.
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