New Michigan assistant coach Phil Martelli is deeply tied to the city of Philadelphia.
His entire collegiate head coaching career has been at St. Joseph’s and he is well-respected in the city as a legendary coach. Martelli joined the Brotherly Love Sports podcast this week and he discussed leaving Philadelphia and why he came to Michigan.
Martelli said he took his time and found the perfect next stop for him.
“I’m very, very thankful for the number of people that had discussions with me and had thoughts about [how I shouldn’t] rush into things and be patient and [I had] the belief that my heart would be touched,” Martelli said on the podcast. “The first day I talked to Juwan Howard, my heart was touched. And I believed that it was preordained that I would end up here and I would be able to help mold Juwan into who I think will become a great, great basketball coach.”
While Martelli had only met Howard three times prior to him getting the U-M job, Martelli was very impressed with Howard.
“He’s a fabulous man,” Martelli said. “When a long-time NBA executive referred to him as Jameer [Nelson] like, that was all I needed to hear and that’s all I have found him to be. Very special man, college graduate. A family man and he loves his school. This is going to be quite a journey. Other than being physically out of Philadelphia, my heart will never leave Philadelphia.”
Martelli is leaving Pennsylvania, but he has a connection to his new home.
“I’ve never lived outside of Philly, but there’s a little known fact about me,” Martelli said. “I was born in Michigan. My father was in the Air Force at Mt. Clemens, Mich., and I was born here and I was only here for nine months. But any time the teams have done well, Michigan or Michigan State, I’ve always bragged that I was born in Michigan and I was a transplant of Philadelphia.”
Leaving Philadelphia was a difficult decision for Martelli. Before making the leap, he consulted with his family to get their blessing.
“Because of what we had been through as a family over the past 10 weeks, they were absolutely elated,” Martelli said. “They knew how much homework I had done. This was not the first opportunity I was presented. There were opportunities in broadcast, there were opportunities, NBA or international.
“I watch the NBA games in the playoffs and I watch by myself and I’m on the phone all the time. I love going to my grandchildren’s events. But for this moment in time, this is the right thing for us as a family and I needed them to approve of this.”
Once he got his family’s approval to take the job, he became a perfect fit for Howard’s staff. He provides a wealth of experience and knows how to run a college program effectively.
Martelli said the new coaching staff is in the process of get acquainted with the program and formulating a direction.
“We’re going to have a meeting on Wednesday morning,” Martelli said. “[Monday] was just logistics, get everyone moved in, get everybody set up with their extended stays. [Tuesday] will be compliance and then Wednesday, we are going to do specifics in terms of recruiting, are we going to recruit areas or are we going to recruit classes, who’s going to handle skill development. All that will be determined on Wednesday.”
For Martelli, it’s a big change leaving the Philadelphia area. He also has to change where he recruits.
“I’m going to be going into different gyms now than I was at St. Joseph’s and looking at different players,” Martelli said. “Pursuing players who want to get to the NBA sooner rather than later. As long as they are quality individuals, Juwan Howard has giving us the ok to pursue guys from coast-to-coast.”
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