Head coach continues to inspire 432 wins later

Tom Martin has been an outstanding role model for coaches at the collegiate level, and has developed into a coaching icon during his 33-year career.

Matt Demsky writes of how Martin continues to motivate and inspire his players and teams.

Tom Martin doesn’t want to discuss how many wins he has, or national championships for that matter. If you decide to talk about them, he will quickly change subjects as if you brought up a haunting memory. As the all-time leader in wins among active coaches in college soccer, it’s not that Martin isn’t proud of his accomplishments, it’s just that he thinks you should be looking elsewhere to find where the credit is due.

Martin, head coach of the JMU Men’s Soccer program, has 432 wins under his belt in his 33 years of coaching. This is a feat that puts him in fine company with sporting icons, such as Penn State football head coach Joe Paterno (394 wins) and Duke’s men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (868 wins).

Prior to accepting the head coaching position at JMU in 1986, Martin won two NAIA championships at West Virginia Wesleyan University. In all his years of coaching, Martin has failed to compile a winning record just four times. Most coaches can merely dream of feats like this, but with Martin, it’s become the standard. In the 1990’s, JMU was the sixth-winningest program in the nation, achieved a top-five national rating, and reached two consecutive NCAA quarterfinals.

Under Martin, JMU has also reached a total of eight NCAA tournaments, won four conference titles, and has had five players receive Conference Player of the Year honors. If you’re not aware of Martin’s success, he doesn’t mind. In fact, he prefers all the credit go to the players, simply because that’s who he gives his credit to.

“Far too often, coaches get all the credit. And I don’t understand. I’m not the one out on the field. All credit should be awarded to the players,” said Coach Martin. “Soccer is different. Once the game starts, there aren’t any time outs. It’s not like in basketball or football, in which coaches can gather their team and give them a one minute speech. Once they are on the field, it’s their game. All I can do is try to help prepare.”