FSU Baseball: Mike Martin Remains a Model of Coaching Consistency

FSU baseball is the most consistent program in the country, much of that is due to having Mike Martin Sr. at the helm for thirty-eight seasons.

The roller coaster season FSU baseball has had is well-documented. With the Noles getting set to take on LSU in the College World Series on Saturday night, all is right. However, what feels like decades ago but was actually just two months, the Noles were sitting at 21-15 with a tough road ahead.

A faction of the FSU baseball fan base has always been critical of Martin and his lack of a championship. With the Noles’ middling record in April, the criticism was at an all-time high. Many fans felt like it was confirmation of what they had long suspected, that the game had passed Martin.

Some disgruntled fans were calling for Martin to be let go after the season, others were doing the math and counting down the wins until he becomes the all-time winningest coach, assuming FSU would be moving on after that accomplishment was met. It would be disingenuous of me to pretend like I didn’t have my doubts about where FSU baseball was headed while I watched them drop more games than I had ever seen.

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Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but we shouldn’t have doubted Martin, he has never given us any reason to. This season, FSU extended their streak of winning 40 games per season to 40, with the last 38 being under the man known affectionately as “Eleven”. For 37 seasons, Martin had proven himself and all it took was 36 games before his doubters grew to a number we haven’t seen since he has been here.

To be fair, much of Martin’s critics have been at it for years due to the lack of a national championship. I understand it; I want to see my Noles win the whole thing in Omaha as much as anyone else but baseball is a tricky game. Martin’s lack of a title is not an indictment on who he is as a coach or what he has done at FSU.

When I think of Eleven, I think of three things: honor, integrity, consistency. In just under 38 seasons, the man has accumulated 1,943 wins, just 32 behind Auggie Gurrido for most all time.

How many traditional powers in college baseball have missed the tournament in those 38 years that Martin has shown his consistency? For much of the season FSU wasn’t playing up to Martin’s own standard, but he stayed the course and here we are with a trip to Omaha on the horizon.

Would a national championship add to Martin’s legacy and put a bow on his career at FSU? Of course. But to me, baseball is a game of consistency, and as FSU fans should keep in mind, we have the most consistent coach of all time.

Will this be the year that FSU gets over the hump and brings the hardware home from Omaha? I’m not sure. But what I am sure of is that FSU is lucky to have had 38 years with a manager as consistent as Mike Martin. For me, Eleven personifies everything I love about Florida State University.

I desperately want to see Eleven bring a national title to FSU. But no matter what happens in the next week, I think we should appreciate the moment and appreciate what we have in Mike Martin Sr. In the words of Eleven… “WE GOIN’ BACK!”