FSU baseball’s Mike Martin named Coach of the Year

Florida State head baseball coach Mike Martin has been named Coach of the Year by Perfect Game USA:

Some might say this is a lifetime achievement award, and they may be right. FSU didn’t have the greatest regular season this year, but it’s hard to argue with what Martin has accomplished.

He’s coached Florida State since 1980, and after 40 seasons and sweeping LSU in the 2019 Super Regionals, the coach known as “11” has 2,028 wins, easily the most all-time. He has 506 regular season ACC wins, the most in conference history. He owns the highest winning percentage among all active coaches. In all 40 seasons FSU has won at least 40 games and made the postseason. The next longest postseason streak is just 14 years, by Vanderbilt. The ’Noles have now made the College World Series 17 times.

Martin has already been inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He was also named the Coach of the Year by Baseball America in 2012. He’s been the ACC Coach of the Year seven times.

The only knock on his resume is the lack of a national championship, but you could argue that the sheer volume and consistency of Martin’s success is more difficult and less probable than any single title. Still, FSU twice finished as the runner-up in the College World Series.

But all of that is not really what Martin remembers. He remembers all the players he’s coached. Deion Sanders. J.D. Drew. Buster Posey. Kevin Cash, who is now the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. Mike Yastrzemski, and Doug Mientkiewicz, and on and on. He’s coached 94 All-Americans, 52 players who have played major league baseball, and 18 first-round picks. And he’s beloved by them all.

For Martin and his legacy, there’s nothing left to prove.