Longtime former Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin dead at 79

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Legendary former Florida State head baseball coach Mike Martin died Thursday after a three-year battle with Lewy body dementia, the school announced. He was 79.

"Today we mourn with the Martin family the passing of a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and baseball coach," the Seminoles wrote on the baseball team's official social media accounts. "Rest in Peace, 11."

Martin — affectionately known as "11," the jersey number that he wore — was at the helm of his alma mater from 1980 to 2019, winning more than 2,000 games in his career.

The Seminoles never had a losing season under Martin and won at least 40 games in each of Martin's 40 seasons, culminating with a trip to the College World Series in 2019. He retired as the all-time wins leader in college baseball history.

College Baseball's All-Time Division I Wins Leaders

Under Martin's watch, the Seminoles amassed a 2,029-736-4 record, 19 conference championships, including eight Atlantic Coast Conference titles, and went to the College World Series 17 times.

Martin earned the first of his 17 College World Series appearances in 1980. He took the Seminoles three more times in the 1980s, seven times in the 1990s, twice in the 2000s and four times in his last decade.

The only blemish to Martin's otherwise impeccable resume was the elusive national championship.

Martin's teams went to Omaha 17 times without ever winning. That's an NCAA record for the most appearances by a school without a win.

Nati Harnik/AP

The Seminoles always seemed to be a fixture in Omaha under Martin, even after they transitioned to the ACC and navigated a much tougher schedule. FSU went to the College World Series for three straight seasons from 1994-96 and again from 1998-2000. The Seminoles were Omaha-bound in seven of FSU's first nine ACC seasons.

FSU hit a slump, by program standards, in the early 2000s, failing to return to Omaha from 2001-07. It was the longest drought between College World Series appearances under Martin.

The Seminoles played in the national championship game twice in the Martin era.

In 1986, FSU mounted a ninth-inning charge, but it was too little too late for the Seminoles, who lost to Arizona 10-2.

But it was the loss in 1999 that might have stung the most. The Seminoles fell one run short in a 6-5 loss to rival Miami, giving the Hurricanes their third of four national championships.

Martin coached 20 players who became Major League Baseball first-round draft picks, and 60 of his former players reached the majors.

Among the future MLB stars he coached were catcher Buster Posey (2012 NL MVP), outfielders J.D. Drew and Deion Sanders, and shortstops Luis Alicea and Stephen Drew. He even coached a future manager — Tampa Bay Rays skipper Kevin Cash — and 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, who was a relief pitcher and played in the outfield for the Seminoles.

Chris O'Meara/AP

Martin coached all four of FSU's Golden Spikes Award winners, given to the best amateur baseball player in the country. That's the most of any school since it was first awarded in 1978.

Florida State's playing surface was christened Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium in 2005.

Martin's teams won 50-plus games in each of his first 12 seasons. On two occasions, Martin's teams reached 60 or more wins. FSU's 61 wins in 1986 set a school record for victories.

Martin's relationship with FSU began in the summer of 1964 when he transferred from what was then Wingate Junior College in his home state of North Carolina to play center field for the Seminoles and former World Series champion Danny Litwhiler. After graduating from FSU in 1966, Martin had a three-year stint in the minor leagues before returning to Tallahassee.

He spent four seasons as an assistant to Woody Woodward and one under Dick Howser before finally ascending to the top of the FSU baseball chain after George Steinbrenner lured Howser away to manage the New York Yankees.

His predecessors had both bolted for jobs in the big leagues, so it was important for FSU to find someone who could lead the Seminoles for the long haul. But it's not likely the FSU administration had any idea he would remain as long as he did, surpassing the stay of legendary head football coach Bobby Bowden, who resigned in 2010 after 34 seasons at the helm.

Phil Sears/AP

Give credit to former athletic director John Bridgers for having the foresight to hire both a program-changing football coach in Bowden, who died in 2021, and college baseball's future all-time wins leader in Martin. As it turned out, Martin was Bridgers' parting gift to FSU before he left to take the same job at the University of New Mexico in December 1979.

A year earlier, when Woodward announced that he would leave his alma mater to work for the Cincinnati Reds, he lobbied for Martin to take over.

"I would hope that Mike Martin would be given top consideration," Woodward said in August 1978. "He knows the players. He has headed the summer program the last four years. I think he would be received well in all areas."

Instead, the job went to Howser, FSU's first All-American who was coaching third base for the Yankees. He kept Martin on his staff.

Howser, who had purchased a house in Tallahassee, left professional baseball looking for "a change of lifestyle," he said in October 1978, but a telephone call from Yankees owner Steinbrenner changed everything. Steinbrenner was planning to fire manager Billy Martin and wanted to know if Howser would be interested. They soon met in Ocala, where Steinbrenner had a horse farm, and agreed to a deal for Howser to return to the Yankees.

Martin was serving as interim coach when then-FSU President Bernie Sliger, who was also instrumental in Bowden's hiring, told him a baseball selection committee unanimously recommended him to succeed Howser.

It was "the second greatest day in my life," Martin said at the time. "The greatest was a four-way tie — the day I married Carol and the days my three children were born."

Mike Martin Jr. was named as his father's successor just two days after the longtime skipper retired. The elder Martin had lobbied for his son to succeed him.

However, Martin Jr.'s teams never advanced past the regionals in the NCAA tournament and he was fired after the 2022 season.

Link Jarrett, who was a starting shortstop for the Seminoles under Martin, was tapped to take over in June 2022. The Seminoles finished Jarrett's debut season with a 23-31 record – their first losing record in program history.

"Mike Martin showed all of us that you can be an amazing father, grandfather, husband and friend while also being a world-class baseball coach," Jarrett said. "Today the world lost more than the winningest coach in college sports history, we lost a legendary human being [who] was a role model to all [who] he encountered."

Florida State athletic director Michael Alford, who played baseball at Mississippi State, called Martin "an iconic figure in the history of college baseball and a man who was both respected and beloved throughout the game."

"His record of winning the most games in the history of the sport put him at the pinnacle, and his ability to win consistently at the very highest level of the game was equally remarkable," Alford said.

It was Alford who severed the Martin pipeline to FSU when he fired Martin Jr. — nicknamed "Meat" — after just three seasons and plucked away Jarrett — Martin Jr.'s old roommate — from Notre Dame.

"Mike was a tremendous ambassador for Florida State University and loved FSU with all his heart," Alford continued. "He lit up a room with his enthusiasm and energy, and his insistence that his teams always play the game the right way and with class was appreciated from coast to coast. The sport has lost one of its all-time greats and we have lost one of our greatest Seminoles."

Martin is survived by his wife of 59 years, Carol, his three children and his four grandchildren.

A public celebration of life will be held at a later date on the playing field named for Martin.