CC: Phil Martelli

Submitted by LloydCarnac on March 20th, 2024 at 9:57 AM

Excellent coach. Loves UM, especially academics, culture, and history. Cares about student athletes and their families. Understands NIL in context of all of it. Great ambassador for our students, university, and sport. Has energy and desire for head coaching, program development, and teaching the game. He's already here, and still working in the program. It would be awesome to give him a chance for the opportunity.

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Basketball

Kilgore Trout

March 20th, 2024 at 10:19 AM ^

I'm not sure if this is a sarcastic shot at the MSU fans who have been saying this, but this is silly. For better or worse (clearly mostly worse) Juwan Howard was clearly the coach of this team. Martellli was rarely even in the huddles on the sideline and had basically no interaction with Howard throughout the games.

Joined: 02/20/2009

MGoPoints: 13178

cbs650

March 20th, 2024 at 10:59 AM ^

So that would be problematic as an assistant. Because he wasn't that way when Howard was away from the team and earlier in his tenure. But I forgot it was ALL Howard's fault that the team was losing. And as another poster mentioned, Martelli got alot of the praise when Michigan was winning even as an assistant. 

Joined: 02/07/2011

MGoPoints: 4822

Kilgore Trout

March 20th, 2024 at 11:17 AM ^

That was always kind of silly to give Martelli that praise when they were winning. At least on game days when Howard was there, Martelli was never obviously involved in anything. 

I feel like people forget that Martelli kind of flamed out at Saint Joseph's. His last three teams were ranked 184, 116, 189 on KenPom. Bringing him in to help in the first year or two made sense, but I do wonder if not turning over any staff was a net negative for Howard over his five years. 

Joined: 02/20/2009

MGoPoints: 13178

S.G. Rice

March 20th, 2024 at 10:03 AM ^

Cons:  He doesn't have that many years left, his family remains in Philly AFAIK, has been permanently stained in the eyes of the ravening mob by his association with this year's team.

Verdict:  Not happening.

Joined: 07/18/2008

MGoPoints: 23185

St Joe Blues

March 20th, 2024 at 10:04 AM ^

He's only 2 years younger than John Beilein. I'd prefer to find a coach who can build something for us to enjoy for the next 10-15 years. We had a great 12-year run with Beilein. Let's look for the same thing from the next coach.

Joined: 01/08/2017

MGoPoints: 33795

CR

March 20th, 2024 at 10:11 AM ^

As much as I love Phil---and I have had the chance to talk to him several times---I don't think he is the best alternative (at age 70) as UM HC. That said, it sure would feel good if he remained on staff. As he says, he knows how to run a practice and you never go wrong retaining this quality of human who also happens to be expert in what he does. OTOH, I sure wouldn't grouse if he were hired as HC.

After watching Colo State last night Nico Medved seems reasonable. That team started 4 grads and a senior, IIRC, however, so they should look like they know what they are doing. VA had no right in the tournament at #67 (now #73) in KenPom. Worst offensive team I have seen all year.

I really admire how Cornell played against OSU last night with 1/2 the talent. That guy, Brian Earl, really has a fun offense---a cross between Princeton and the old Loyola Maryrmount. I defintiely kick those tires.

 

Joined: 10/23/2009

MGoPoints: 2368

MGoStretch

March 20th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^

OK, I've been holding this one in my back pocket for a thread like this, but has anyone mentioned Tommy Amaker?  He knows the university, he knows about academic restrictions, he runs an offense similar to Juwan's so whoever doesn't transfer will be able to plug-and-play.  I think it really comes down to either him, Mike Krzyzewski, or John Wooden.

Joined: 03/20/2015

MGoPoints: 8630

DennisFranklinDaMan

March 20th, 2024 at 10:19 AM ^

We kept hearing how good Juwan's assistants were, and for years I waited for them to actually do some coaching, thinking perhaps Juwan's forte was more recruiting and ... actual games. 

Nope. There was so little game-to-game improvement, player development, etc. Nothing.

That's ultimately on Juwan, of course, not them, which is why he got fired. But the suggestion that any of them — including Martelli — have established the bona fides necessary to take the team over is laughable. I'm not sure what, exactly, they were responsible for over the past three years, but whatever it was, it wasn't working.

I guess our uniforms were generally clean. Maybe we should make the laundry guy head coach.

 

Joined: 01/23/2021

MGoPoints: 14418

S.G. Rice

March 20th, 2024 at 11:16 AM ^

Nope. There was so little game-to-game improvement, player development, etc. Nothing.

Going to say I think this is a little harsh.  There absolutely was player development.  This year, for example, Dug and TWill and Tschetter were notably better players.  Bufkin developed.  There are more examples.  It was not universally true, but is it ever? 

In season is harder to judge, and there isn't much doubt that things went backward once the season was lost, injuries started mounting, etc. 

Joined: 07/18/2008

MGoPoints: 23185

DennisFranklinDaMan

March 20th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^

I guess so, but I kept waiting for Dickinson to get better on defense, for example, let alone for players like Jett Howard or Caleb Houston to show improvement from the beginning of the year to the end, and it never really happened. Honestly I didn't even think Dug was much better this year than last. 

There's some improvement, of course, as players mature and grow — Bufkin, for instance — but it's not really apparent for the majority of them.

And while some of the players may have gotten better, I rarely saw the team get better. Indeed, both this year and last year I thought we started out looking pretty good ... and then fell apart. Yes, the level of competition certainly improved, but ... we couldn't even beat the Rutgerseseseses and Penn Stateses. At least in my opinion, the teams played worse at the end of the year, both this year and last, than they did at the beginning.

Joined: 01/23/2021

MGoPoints: 14418

mGrowOld

March 20th, 2024 at 10:20 AM ^

So it looks like we've reached the dumb-ass slate of CC threads.  I'm sure there will be a few more of these (Tommy Amaker, Steve Fisher, Bill Frieder, etc) before the board comedians post the "funny" CC threads (John Wooden, James Naismith, Pat Riley, etc).

CC thread life-cycle:

1. Actual possible candidates

2. Actual candidates that either not very good or would never come here

3. Unrealistic/stupid candidates (you are here)

4. Funny (except they never are funny) candidates

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 212943

jv02

March 20th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^

I respect this post as its a totally plausible outcome and needs to be evaluated, but basically means the coaching search has failed. 

Joined: 01/23/2024

MGoPoints: -224

Kapitan Howard

March 20th, 2024 at 10:41 AM ^

None of what you mentioned is the actual coaching part of the job (unless you're feeling generous and count the "energy and desire" to coach). Sure, he may tick some of the culture and feelingsball boxes, but just because that's important doesn't mean it should be ultimately qualifying for the job. I guess he wouldn't have to walk very far to get to Michigan.

Joined: 07/30/2009

MGoPoints: 6558

bronxblue

March 20th, 2024 at 10:59 AM ^

Well, I've been told by a number of MSU fans, as well as a subset of UM fans, that in fact Martelli has already been the coach for years so it would be weird picking a guy who just went 8-24.  But hey, maybe he's got a comeback in him!

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171742