Tom Martin - Men's Soccer Coach - James Madison University Athletics

Tom Martin

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
martintr@jmu.edu
Phone:
540-568-6518
Physical Address:
Godwin 103C (261 Bluestone Dr.) / MSC 2301

By the numbers:
29 - Years at JMU
38 - Years as a head coach
JMU Record - 359-164-58
Career Record - 478-199-68

Coaching Career:
Fifth-most wins all-time at Division I level (as of Dec. 15, 2014)
10 NCAA Tournaments (1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 2000, 01, 05, 11, 14)
Five CAA Tournament Titles (1992, 93, 94, 2001, 14)
Seven CAA Regular Season Titles (1990, 91, 93, 94, 95, 2000, 11)
Two NAIA National Championships (1984, 85)
Head Coach – Senior Bowl East Team (1984)
Two-time NSCAA National Coach of the Year (1984, 85)
Two-time NAIA National Coach of the Year (1982, 84, 85)
NSCAA/Met Life South Region Coach of the Year (1989)
Soccer News South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year (1995)
Five-time Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year (1986, 89, 1993, 2000, 11)
Four-time Virginia Division I Coach of the Year (1989, 1993, 2000, 11)

Playing Career:
Two-time NAIA National Champion (1968, 70)
NAIA National Runners-up (1969)
Davis & Elkins Team MVP (1968, 70)

Tom Martin spent 29 seasons as the head coach of the James Madison men’s soccer program from 1986-2014 while compiling a 359-164-58 record at the helm of the Dukes. At the conclusion of his career, Martin ranked fifth all-time in NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer with a 478-199-68 record through 38 years of coaching.

Through his career, Martin made stops at Tri-State University (now Trine University), West Virginia Wesleyan College and JMU. After spending just one year at Tri-State, Martin spent the next eight years at West Virginia Wesleyan before finishing out his career with 29 seasons at James Madison.

At his retirement, Martin was the winningest active NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer coach. The 478 all-time victories put him 16 behind fourth place. The winningest active coach all-time is Jerry Yeagley, who won 544 games from 1973-2003 at Indiana University.

In his tenure at James Madison, Martin led the Dukes to a program-record 359 wins. His run got started with a bang in 1986 when he was named Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year after leading JMU to a 12-3-3 mark, which was the first winning season in eight years for the program.

Following a 15-1-3 campaign in 1989, Martin was again named CAA Coach of the Year. The team’s only loss during the season came in overtime against eventual NCAA champion Virginia. Martin was also voted NSCAA/Met Life South Region Coach of the Year and Virginia Division I Coach of the Year.

The first of 10 NCAA Tournament appearances under Martin came in 1992 when the Dukes climbed to No. 4 in the nation in the Soccer America poll and won the program’s first CAA Tournament championship with a 2-1 victory over William & Mary. In 1992, Martin and the Dukes started a streak of 32-straight games without being beat. That run stretched until 1995 but still stands as the longest unbeaten run in CAA history.

The following year in 1993, Martin was named CAA Coach of the Year and Virginia Division I Coach of the Year after the Dukes won a second CAA Tournament title in a row and went back to the NCAA Tournament. With a 7-0 mark in conference play, JMU became the first team in league history to go unbeaten throughout the regular season.

The 1994 season brought JMU’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win when Martin guided JMU to a 20-3-2 mark overall while posting a 6-0-1 record in conference play en route to its third-straight CAA Tournament crown. In the Big Dance, JMU topped North Carolina in Chapel Hill 3-0 for the program’s first NCAA Tourney victory before moving on to beat Duke 2-1 in the Sweet 16. The magical season ended in the Elite Eight with a 4-1 loss to Virginia in front of a crowd of 7,807.

JMU matched the Elite Eight run one season later in 1995 when the Dukes again went back to the national quarterfinals with a win over Princeton in the first round and a penalty-kick victory over Maryland in the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual national finalist Duke 3-2 in the Elite Eight. Entering the season, JMU lost five starters from the previous season, which included the team’s leading scorer and two All-America and conference Player of the Year honorees, but Martin was still awarded with Soccer News’ South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.

From 1991-96, JMU made appearances in the CAA Finals five of the six years with the final appearance coming in 1996 when the Dukes fell 2-1 to William & Mary. Despite the second-place finish, Martin took the Dukes to a program-record fifth-straight NCAA Tournament that year, but JMU fell 2-1 in overtime to Maryland in the first round.

After a couple down years in a row, Martin guided the Dukes back onto the national scene with a regular season CAA title and another trip to the NCAA Tournament. Leading JMU to a 17-4-1 mark, Martin earned CAA Coach of the Year and Virginia Division I Coach of the Year.

One season later in 2001, JMU earned its fourth CAA Tournament title by defeating in-state rival VCU 1-0 to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Matched up with Towson in the NCAA Tournament, the Dukes fell in the first round after posting a 12-6-1 mark throughout the season.

In 2005, Martin guided the Dukes to their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in his career after finishing third in the CAA with a 12-7-3 mark overall.

The 2011 season was a stellar year for Martin and the Dukes. After a few down years, Madison returned to the upper-echelon of the CAA with the fifth and final regular-season title of his tenure after posting a 13-5-2 overall mark with an 8-3 record in conference action. Though falling to eventual CAA Tournament-champion Delaware in the CAA Semifinals, Martin led the Dukes to a national seed in the NCAA Tournament with the No. 14 seed and guided the Dukes to the Sweet 16 with a 2-0 win over national powerhouse Wake Forest in the second round prior to falling to Connecticut in the Round of 16. In the final Soccer America poll, JMU checked in at No. 24 in the country while pulling in a No. 20 ranking in the NSCAA Coaches poll.

In his final season at the helm of the program and in what might have been his finest hour at JMU, Martin led the Dukes to the No. 6 seed in the CAA Tournament after being picked to finish last in the conference prior to the season. In the CAA Tournament, Martin led JMU to upset wins over the three teams that tied for first during the regular season in the CAA to capture the program’s fifth CAA Tournament title. Along the way, the Dukes beat third-seeded Hofstra in the Quarterfinals 2-0, second-seeded UNCW in the Semifinals 2-0 and top-seeded Delaware 1-0 in the CAA Finals to earn an improbable berth to the NCAA Tournament. During the season, JMU played its hardest schedule under Martin with games against eventual national champion Virginia, national semifinalist UMBC and national quarterfinalist North Carolina.

In 38 years of coaching, his teams only suffered a total of four losing seasons. He posted a .668 winning percentage in his 29 years in Harrisonburg. Overall, he coached 40 First Team All-CAA performers, 39 Second Team All-CAA honorees, seven Third Team All-CAA performers (started in 2007) and 10 All-Rookie performers while helping five players earn CAA Player of the Year with two Rookie of the Year awards and one Defender of the Year honor. The five Player of the Year awards are the most for any coach in his tenure as a coach in the CAA.

One of the Player of the Year awards went to CJ Sapong, who played at JMU from 2007-10. Sapong earned the honor in 2010 after leading the conference in points, assists and goals scored. Sapong went on to be drafted 10th overall in the MLS SuperDraft, the highest-drafted player in school history. He later won the MLS Rookie of the Year award in 2011 and helped Sporting Kansas City to the club’s second MLS Cup title in 2013.

Prior to JMU, Martin’s eight-year run at West Virginia Wesleyan was highlighted by back-to-back NAIA National Championships in 1984 and 1985. He was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1982, 1984 and 1985 and was honored as National Coach of the Year by the NSCAA in 1984 and 1985. In addition to the honors at WVW, Martin was named NAIA District 28 Coach of the Year six times, West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Coach of the Year five times and as NAIA Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year three times. In addition to the two national championships, West Virginia Wesleyan also won three WVIAC titles, two NAIA Area 8 titles and two NAIA District 28 championships under Martin. He was inducted to the West Virginia Wesleyan Hall of Fame in 1999.

The Lancaster, Pa., native earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Davis & Elkins College (1971) and was inducted into the D&E Hall of Fame in 1995. He was a two-time team MVP and earned WVIAC All-Conference honors at D&E, where he played on two NAIA national championship teams (1968 and 1970) and a national runner-up team (1969). In 1972, Martin earned a tryout with the NASL Dallas Tornado and the Pittsburgh Miners of the ASL.

Martin earned a master's degree in professional physical education (1974) and a doctorate in physical education (1977) from West Virginia University. He and his wife, Cherylen, have one son, Sean, a 2007 JMU graduate who played at JMU and was on Tom’s coaching staff from 2009-14.

Martin Year-by-Year
478-199-68 (.687) in 38 career seasons
359-164-58 (.668) in 29 JMU seasons
Season	School	Record	Win Pct.	Postseason
1977	Tri State University	5-4-1	.555
1978	West Virginia Wesleyan	7-4-3	.607
1979	West Virginia Wesleyan	14-4-0	.778
1980	West Virginia Wesleyan	12-5-1	.694
1981	West Virginia Wesleyan	12-4-1	.735	NAIA Area 8 & District 28 Champion
1982	West Virginia Wesleyan	16-4-1	.786	NAIA Area 8 & District 28 Champion
1983	West Virginia Wesleyan	11-5-2	.667
1984	West Virginia Wesleyan	21-2-0	.913	NAIA Champion
1985	West Virginia Wesleyan	21-3-1	.860	NAIA Champion
1986	James Madison	12-3-3	.750
1987	James Madison	9-9-2	.500
1988	James Madison	15-3-3	.786
1989	James Madison	15-1-3	.868
1990	James Madison	14-5-0	.737
1991	James Madison	17-3-1	.833
1992	James Madison	17-4-1	.795	NCAA First Round
1993	James Madison	19-2-1	.886	NCAA First Round
1994	James Madison	20-3-2	.840	NCAA Elite Eight
1995	James Madison	17-5-2	.750	NCAA Elite Eight
1996	James Madison	14-5-2	.714	NCAA First Round
1997	James Madison	12-5-2	.684
1998	James Madison	13-6-1	.675
1999	James Madison	11-8-1	.600
2000	James Madison	17-4-1	.795	NCAA First Round
2001	James Madison	12-6-1	.658	NCAA First Round
2002	James Madison	8-10-3	.452
2003	James Madison	11-7-2	.600
2004	James Madison	15-3-1	.816
2005	James Madison	12-7-2	.619	NCAA First Round
2006	James Madison	9-5-3	.617
2007	James Madison	7-9-3	.447
2008	James Madison	6-9-3	.417
2009	James Madison	10-5-3	.639
2010	James Madison	9-7-2	.556
2011	James Madison	13-5-2	.700	NCAA Sweet 16
2012	James Madison	9-7-3	.553
2013	James Madison	6-10-1	.382
2014	James Madison	10-8-4	.545	NCAA First Round