Mike Martin (baseball Coach)

Mike Martin (baseball Coach)

Mike Martin, Sr. (born February 12, 1944) is the head baseball coach at Florida State University. Martin is the third all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I college baseball history, and second in all-time winning percentage. Heading into the post-season of the 2012 season, Martin had compiled a record of 1,721 wins, 592 losses and four ties over 33 seasons of collegiate coaching.

Martin, himself a graduate of Florida State in 1966, began his collegiate playing career at Wingate Junior College where he was a Junior College All-American. He then transferred to Florida State where he played from 1965-1966. During his years as the center fielder at Florida State, Martin hit .354, and earned all-District honors in his senior season and played in the 1965 College World Series. After his college career was over, Martin played professional baseball in the New York Mets and Detroit Tigers minor league organizations for three seasons before beginning his career in coaching.

Martin began his career in coaching at the junior high school level. His first stint as a college coach, surprisingly came in a different sport, basketball when Martin became the head basketball coach at Tallahassee Community College.

It was in 1975, when Woody Woodward took over the head coaching job at Florida State, that Martin would be reunited with his alma mater. Martin served as an assistant coach under Woodward for four seasons, and then for another season under Dick Howser. Howser would get his chance to manage the New York Yankees and Martin stepped into the head coaching role at Florida State in 1980.

Though Martin's teams have yet to win a national title, his tenure at Florida State is marked with many honors and feats. Only one team in college baseball, the University of Miami, has been to more consecutive NCAA Tournaments than Florida State, who have, as of the 2012 season, made 33 straight postseason appearances. Martin's Seminoles have won five Atlantic Coast Conference championships and have appeared in 15 College World Series.

Martin's players, which include many college and professional standouts such as Deion Sanders, J. D. Drew, Doug Mientkiewicz, Stephen Drew, Paul Wilson and Buster Posey, have excelled as well. More than 70 of Martin's players have been named All-Americans, five have been named national player of the year, four have won the Golden Spikes Award, considered to be the most prestigious individual award in amateur baseball, and one has won the Dick Howser Trophy, considered to be the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for baseball. Martin has won the ACC Coach of the Year award seven times (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2012).

Dedicated in 2005, Florida State's baseball team plays on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.