Saint Joe’s Basketball: Nothing was mishandled by Hawks during Martelli termination

There wasn’t a better way for Saint Joe’s basketball to part with Phil Martelli than how it was handled.

Around this time last year, the same things we’re hearing now about Martelli’s release from Saint Joe’s basketball were ringing out around the Big 5 Twitter sphere and the local media when Fran Dunphy was essentially fired: the relief of one of the Big 5’s great all-time coaches wasn’t “handled” properly. And last March, Fran Dunphy’s opponents and supporters who were all criticizing the university probably had a point; word had leaked to the media about Fran’s forced “retirement”, and he found out about it while with colleagues at the NCAA Tourney through a second-hand source, or so something like that the story goes. It probably wasn’t the best way to part with Dunphy.

Turn the calendar forward a year, and another Big 5 program, this time St. Joe’s, decided it was time to part with its long-tenured head coach. After 24 years, Phil Martelli was let go after one of the most disappointing seasons on Hawk Hill in recent memory. But this piece isn’t meant to argue for or against Phil’s termination. I have plenty of thoughts on the matter, and I’ll be writing all about the recent Big 5 coaching carousel, the dramatics surrounding it, and what it means for area basketball over the next few weeks, but that’s not what I want to do here.

What I do want to do is confront the narrative, one that’s been pushed by fans, local media, and fueled by Martelli’s own comments, that he was somehow mistreated during this process. He wasn’t. This wasn’t the Dunphy situation. A new administration at St. Joe’s decided, for one reason or another, that they wanted to part ways with Martelli. The season ended, they gave him the option of announcing his retirement or resignation, and he refused. So, what followed was an unpleasant termination. That’s as respectful as St. Joseph’s and Jill Bodensteiner could have been towards Martelli.

But the outpouring of support for Phil turned into outrage from a small portion of St. Joe’s’ fan base and others around Big 5 hoops (and I promise you, it’s a small minority; if you’ve had your finger anywhere near the pulse of the Hawks‘ fan base, you know exactly how the fans actually passing through the turnstiles at Hagan feel). Some are saying Bodensteiner’s public comments were “cold” (something I know wouldn’t be said if those same comments were coming from a man), other’s that it was too soon after Phil’s father passed away during this basketball season.

There’s never a good time to be fired; anyone who has been fired from any job at any level knows that. But what else was the administration on Hawk Hill supposed to do? Give him a few months to let his other pains heal? Are they supposed to set recruiting efforts back to attempt to fire Martelli on a timeline that works for him, or miss out on potential replacements? Is the program expected to be exposed to potential setbacks so Martelli had time to kick his feet up at the Shore house his St. Joe’s salary paid for before being let go? Get real. Saint Joseph’s did plenty for Phil and his family, and it’s time for everyone, including the Martelli family, to move on.