Michigan Basketball: 3 Reasons why Phil Martelli is the perfect hire

He’s old and that’s a good quality for Michigan to have

We’re going to start with a no brainer here and kick it all off with some good-old-fashioned background on old Phil.

While you may have known the round-bellied Martelli has been coaching for a while you might not have known is that has actually been coaching since before a majority of the people reading this were born.

Back in Martelli’s day – 1972 that is – Phil was a stout freshman at Widener U where he enjoyed success and set the school’s record for single-season and career assist’s. Upon graduating, He remained on the team as an assistant in 1977, 42 years ago.

He left a year later and became the coach at Bishop Kenrick High School all without exiting the boundaries of his home state of Pennsylvania. He stayed at Bishop until 1985 when he hired on at Saint Joseph.

All those naysayers who complained about the Juwan Howard hire due to coaching experience have just been silenced by the review of Martelli’s career. A career that started well before The Simpsons and it will hopefully exist long after in Ann Arbor.

The combination of a young coaching mind in Juwan, who has mentioned his willingness to learn, and seasoned Phil Martelli, who has been coaching college basketball before the legends like Roy Williams and even John Beilein, make a force to be reckoned with.

Judging by his comments following his departure from Saint Joseph’s, he won’t be retiring anytime soon.

“Through the pain and numbness, I am excited. I am fired up.” Phil said in his statement, I need to be on a sideline and working with hungry student-athletes who want to be challenged to put smiles on people’s faces and joy in their hearts — the challenge of becoming champions.”