FSU Baseball: Title or not, Mike Martin should retire after 2018 season

FSU baseball now has the all time winningest coach in college history – and the longer he sticks around, all people will see is the losses in Omaha.

With the clock getting close to 11 p.m. on a game that took nearly four and a half hours to play Saturday night in Clemson, South Carolina, the FSU baseball team was finally able to give their long time head coach Mike Martin something he has worked nearly four decades for – a record setting 1,967th career win to become the tops in the college game.

No, the win wasn’t in front of the home fans inside Dick Howser Stadium against a rival like Florida or Miami or even a team like Jacksonville or Georgia Tech he has played countless times – in fact, the win came 133 miles from his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina in front of just over 5,000 fans, many in orange and purple.

Nonetheless, the all-time wins record belongs to the man who has led FSU baseball into prominence as one of the biggest names in the entire game. By now, the number are known – at least 40 wins ever season, 31 regular season and tournament conference titles, making the NCAA tournament each season and heading to the College World Series 16 times.

It’s the final one that is the reason it should all end after this season for Mike Martin – because no matter what, all people will talk about outside of the FSU baseball family (and some inside will do so anyway) is that he could never win any of those trips to Omaha.

Now, in the past, I have written various columns for Chop Chat talking about the misfortunes of the Seminoles out in the state of Nebraska. I have written before that it might be time for No. 11 to considering hanging it up sooner rather than later.

Let me say that, as a FSU alum and diehard fan of the Seminoles, I have no ill will toward Martin and do believe that he should be praised for what he did to the FSU baseball program to make it one of the marquee names in the sport. I also don’t think someone should be judge solely on the number of titles they win – hell, you’re going to tell me Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson is a better NFL quarterback than Dan Marino because they won a Super Bowl?

The Tallahassee Democrat posted words from former players, coaches and opponents of Martin after Saturday’s record setting win – and former Florida Gators head coach Andy Lopez hit the nail on the head about Omaha:

"“…But what Mike Martin has accomplished, year in and year out, is far beyond any national title. You get hot for two weeks, you win it. And every coach knows it’s not always the best team, it’s the hottest team.”"

While that is truth – how many times has FSU baseball been a favorite entering Omaha, including twice playing for the title under Martin – it is also truth that no matter what, all that is going to matter is that of all those wins, not one was in a national championship game.

All sticking around will do – whether it is another season to get 2,000 wins or jut try and make one more trip to Omaha in his 40th season with the Seminoles – is draw attention to the goose egg. Quite frankly, Mike Martin is the best coach now in college baseball history and doesn’t have to endure that kind of flack.

Next: Mike Martin reaches 1,976 wins for most all time

There will come a day when FSU baseball will have a new coach in the dugout leading the team – now that Martin has gotten the precious record he wanted entering this season, it’s time to move on for the sake of the program…and his resume.