FSU Baseball: Mike Martin Jr. has much to prove after introductory presser

FSU Baseball introduced the latest Martin to lead the Seminoles onto the field of play for the upcoming season, but not much has been answered about changes.

Just five days after being knocked out of the College World Series for the 24th time in…well, 24 appearances in Omaha, the FSU baseball team formally introduced the newest head coach of the team following the retirement of longtime skipper Mike Martin after 40 legendary seasons that ended with a wild run to Omaha this past year.

The replacement after a long, nationwide search that started at the early parts of the season according to those within the athletic department for the Seminoles? Mike Martin Jr., a former FSU baseball player who has spent over two decades as an assistant for his dad and essentially helped build the Noles for much of the last decade.

The longtime Seminole, known affectionally by his nickname of “Meat”, met with the media on Monday afternoon and essentially said all the things that people wanted to hear – but gave little meat (sorry, had to write that) when it came to exactly how he plans on doing something his dad never did: win in Omaha.

Florida State Seminoles

Now, before we continue let me set the record straight about something that was written this weekend on this website: I never once said that Martin, who bleeds garnet and gold more than most people associated with the school, didn’t deserve to be named the head coach…I said that the move was not a sexy one the Noles needed.

After Monday, that feeling remains for me.

There are plenty of people praising the move, from those who cover the school on a national basis and within the city of Tallahassee. For the record, I hope that I am wrong and the Noles dominate the world of college baseball and brings multiple national titles to the FSU baseball program in decades of leading the Seminoles.

During Monday’s introductory press conference with speakers ranking from school president John Thrasher to new athletics director David Coburn – which you can watch by clicking here – Meat talked about all the things that the Seminoles will do differently than they did under his dad, such as…well, no names on the jerseys…and moving the dugout to the third base line…yeah.

Look, I admit that I am a little sarcastic when it comes to this move because I have been part of the FSU baseball fan base that thought the departure of Mike Martin Sr. would be the perfect time to completely change the direction of the team into one that did something no other Seminoles team had done before: win in Omaha.

Can Junior bring home the title? Of course he can and anyone who thinks he doesn’t have the talent or skill to do so is insane? Am I much more confident after hearing his introduction? Sadly, I can’t say that – and now we wait until February to see if the new look will bring new results.