Friars Coaching Search: Phil Martelli, Jr.

The Son of a Mid-Major Architect is Forging a Path of His Own

On Thursday evening, the VCU Rams will face the North Carolina Tar Heels at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. It will mark VCU’s 21st all-time NCAA Tournament appearance (15th this century) and their 10th in 14 years as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Perhaps more impressively, those fifteen trips have been guided by seven different head coaches, each one carrying the program’s tournament tradition forward.

VCU’s Impressive Coaching Tree

It started under Jeff Capel, who earned the Rams a 13 seed in 2003-04. Anthony Grant followed, guiding VCU to a pair of 11-seed appearances in 2006-07 and 2008-09.

Then came one of the more storied postseason runs in mid-major history: seven straight NCAA Tournament bids from 2010-11 through 2016-17.

Shaka Smart’s 11-seed Final Four run in 2011 is permanently etched in college basketball lore, but the program didn’t stop there, making Sweet 16 appearances as a 12 seed in 2011-12 and a 5 seed in 2012-13, then Round of 32 trips as a 5 seed in 2013-14 and a 7 seed in 2014-15.

Will Wade inherited the program after Smart’s departure and kept the run going, guiding VCU to 10-seed appearances in both 2016 and 2017.

Wade’s two-year tenure gave way to a six-year run under Mike Rhoades, who made three tournament appearances with the program.

Ryan Odom followed, narrowly missing the field in 2023-24 after falling to Duquesne in the A-10 title game before returning VCU to the tournament in 2025.

At the end of the 2024-25 campaign, Odom departed for Virginia, leaving VCU once again in search of a new leader to carry on the program’s tradition.

Tracking Phil Martelli Jr.’s Path to VCU

Enter Phil Martelli Jr., a name that has surfaced in coaching searches for two straight offseasons.

And for good reason.

It’s a name that carries weight in college basketball circles. His father, Phil Sr., spent 24 years as the head coach at Saint Joseph’s (1996-2019), leading the Hawks to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and developing a mid-major power.

But the younger Martelli has carved out a legacy of his own. Last season, he led Bryant to a 15 seed on the strength of a 23-8 record and an outright America East title, claiming both the regular-season and conference-tournament crowns.

This season at VCU, the Rams went 27-7, shared the Atlantic 10 regular-season title with Saint Louis, and won the conference tournament, earning a second straight trip to the Round of 64.

VCU enters the tournament on a remarkable run, having won 16 of its last 17 games. The lone blemish came on February 20 at Chaifetz Arena, where Saint Louis, trailing 42-33 at halftime, outscored the visitors 55-33 in the second half to steal the win.

A 2003 Saint Joseph’s alum, Martelli spent nearly two decades honing his craft as an assistant before ever leading a program. His career began at Central Connecticut from 2003-05 under longtime head coach Howie Dickenman, before joining Bobby Gonzalez at Manhattan for the 2005-06 season.

A five-year stint with Joe Mihalich at Niagara followed (2006-11), before five more at Delaware under Monte Ross (2011-16), where he was part of a staff that guided the Fightin’ Blue Hens to a 25-10 record, a Colonial Athletic Association title, and a 13-seed NCAA Tournament bid in 2013-14 — a run that ended in a 93-78 loss to Michigan State.

The following two years offered a detour from the conventional assistant’s path: a season with the then-Delaware 87ers (the Philadelphia 76ers’ G League affiliate, now the Delaware Blue Coats) in 2016-17, followed by a return to his alma mater to serve as Director of Program Administration under his father at Saint Joseph’s in 2017-18.

Martelli Shines in Rhode Island

It wasn’t long before he returned to a college sideline. In March 2018, former Iona assistant Jared Grasso was named head coach at Bryant and brought Martelli aboard as Associate Head Coach, a role he would hold for five seasons.

It would also feature the program’s first-ever NCAAT appearance in 2021-22 (Bryant would fall to Wright State in a 16-seed play-in game).

In late September 2023 — roughly a month before the start of a new season — Grasso was placed on administrative leave amid a flurry of issues. Martelli stepped in as acting head coach, and when Grasso officially resigned six weeks later, he was named the program’s full-time leader.

In two seasons with Martelli at the helm, the Bulldogs went 43-25 (.632), with conference titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024-25.

Recruiting Profile

Martelli’s recruiting network — one built through years as an assistant and bolstered by associate head coach Chris Cole, one of the more respected recruiters in the sport — is rooted in the Northeast and DMV corridor.

When the Grasso situation erupted, the first test as a leader was roster retention: he kept Sherif Gross-Bullock, Kvonn Cramer, Daniel Rivera, Earl Timberlake, Rafael Pinzon, Myle Latimer, Tyler Brelsford, Connor Withers, and Doug Edert in Smithfield.

In his first full offseason at the helm, he retained Timberlake, Withers, and Pinzon while adding four-star recruits Favour Aire (who would miss the season due to a foot injury) and Jakai Robinson. He landed the eventual America East Newcomer of the Year in Barry Evans, and developed New York native Keyshawn Mitchell into one of the conference’s premier centers.

Evans and Mitchell followed Martelli to VCU last offseason, serving as the foundation of the Rams’ new-look roster alongside returning sophomore guards Brandon Jennings and Terrance Hill and junior forward Michael Belle. The transfer portal filled out the rest: Lazar Djokovic (Charleston), Jadrian Tracey (Oregon), Nyk Lewis (a former four-star Xavier commit), Tyrell Ward (LSU), Ahmed Nowell (Connecticut), and Jordann Dumont (Villanova).

Examining Style of Play

Pace is worth examining. At Bryant, Martelli’s groups played remarkably fast, ranking 3rd nationally in possessions per game in 2023-24 (74.2) and 6th in 2024-25 (72.7). At VCU, the tempo has moderated but remains brisk: the Rams average 68.5 possessions per game (116th nationally) and rank 55th in offensive pace this year, with an average possession length of 16.5 seconds. It speaks to their stylistic adaptability; fitting the offense to a deeper, more versatile roster rather than relying solely on volume.

That depth shows up in the numbers. Bryant ranked 320th nationally in bench minutes in 2023-24 (23.7% of minutes to reserves) and 341st in 2024-25 (22.5%), reflecting a heavy reliance on their starters. At VCU, the luxury of genuine depth has been on full display, with the Rams ranking 76th nationally in bench minutes at 35.9%. A steady blend of length and athleticism across the rotation has allowed the Rams to sustain their intensity in ways previously unknown to this staff.

Martelli’s 70-32 (.686) career record doesn’t happen without signature wins. The most striking came just days after his full-time appointment at Bryant: a 61-52 road victory at Florida Atlantic on November 18, 2023. At the time, the Owls were the 10th-ranked team in the country, in what would prove to be Dusty May’s final season before departing for Michigan.

And in 2024-25, the Bulldogs went 14-2 in America East play, snapping an eight-year streak of Vermont winning at least a share of the regular-season title. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Bryant had won 17 of their last 19, including 12 by double digits, before falling to Michigan State, 87-62.

The jump to the A-10 has proven to be no stumbling block. VCU holds top-100 wins over South Florida (78-66), Virginia Tech (86-68), and swept Dayton across all three meetings.

The Rams enter the NCAA Tournament ranked 43rd in the NET and 46th in KenPom, with a 12-5 record in Quad 1 and 2 combined.

From a financial standpoint, Martelli represents exceptional value. His five-year deal at VCU, running through the 2029-30 season, carries a base salary of $1.455 million in year one, with $100K annual raises in years two through five. The buyout is equally modest: just $1 million per year for each of the first two years.

For a program that has cycled through seven consecutive tournament coaches and now finds itself back in March for the 21st time, the calculus is simple: Martelli has earned every bit of the moment. And yet, as VCU prepares to tip off in the Round of 64, his name has begun appearing in a far more prominent coaching search, including at Providence.

For a program in need of a reset, Martelli’s extensive profile is compelling. He is a proven stabilizer: he inherited a roster in turmoil at Bryant before he even had the full-time title, and had the Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament within two seasons. He then walked into a more competitive environment at VCU and, in year one, won the Atlantic 10, a conference that featured Josh Schertz’s Saint Louis, an always-dangerous Dayton group, and a proven winner in Tony Skinn at George Mason.

Patience, composure, and the ability to build trust quickly: those are the qualities that define his career arc, and precisely what the Friars will need from whoever walks through the door next.

With an ongoing search for Providence and an NCAA tournament game still to play for the Rams, the case has already been made.