VCU introduces coach Phil Martelli Jr., who wants to ‘make memories’ in the NCAA Tournament

RICHMOND, Va. — Since 2002, VCU has had to hire a basketball coach seven times. The last five have all led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament.

So, as he spoke to the media, boosters and fans on Thursday during his introductory press conference, Phil Martelli Jr. knew what kind of expectations he would be taking on as the latest coach in that line.

“It’s a national brand,” Martelli said. “It’s a place where you can achieve true excellence. Win championships. Make memories playing deep in the NCAA Tournament. It’s VCU.”

The Rams introduced Martelli, the son of a longtime St. Joseph’s coach, as the latest in what has been an impressive string of successful hires by athletic director Ed McLaughlin. McLaughlin took over his position in 2012 and, three years later, replaced Shaka Smart with Will Wade, then Wade with Mike Rhoades and then Rhoades with Ryan Odom.

Before that, Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant led the Rams.

So when Odom, who guided VCU to its seventh Atlantic 10 championship in the last 21 years and 13th NCAA appearance in that stretch, left to take over at Virginia, the pressure was, once again, on McLaughlin.

This time he reached back into his past. McLaughlin worked at Niagara when Martelli was an assistant coach there from 2006-2011. McLaughlin said Martelli’s leadership and relationship-building skills stood out even then.

That’s why McLaughlin tapped Martelli — who went 43-25 in two seasons at Bryant, leading them to the America East championship and the NCAA Tournament this month — as the next in the Rams’ line of big whistles.

At VCU, Martelli will enjoy a bigger budget, more NIL funding and a passionate fan base, some of whom showed up Thursday morning to hear their new leader’s first words as Rams coach.

So, what has made so many VCU hires successful? Is it the coach or the strength of the program they take over?

McLaughlin said it has to be both.

“When you match a really, really good coach with an incubator for success like we have here, that’s what makes terrific hires,” he said. “ It’s not me being some type of wizard to do this stuff. That’s not what it is. We’ve put the infrastructure in place to make that happen.”

Continuing VCU’s history of success doesn’t come without work, McLaughlin and Martelli said, and that shouldn’t be a problem for Martelli.

Just as VCU wasn’t born a national brand, Martelli has had to grind to reach where he is.

With his family, including his father, sitting in the front row, to his left, and many of the current players to his right, Martelli talked about the struggles of his 22 years in coaching that brought him to that stage.

Afterward, his father recalled his son’s very first job, as a graduate assistant at Central Connecticut State in 2003.

Martelli Jr. was sleeping on a screened-in porch in a small house he rented along with a graduate assistant from the school’s football team and one from its strength and conditioning program.

“It’s hard when your children call you and they say, ‘We’re a little behind on our bills,’” Martelli Sr. said Thursday. “You know no one’s a little bit behind. Whenever anybody would ask, you’re a lot behind.”

Those struggles made Thursday an even more special moment for a proud dad who won 444 games and made seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 33 years at St. Joe’s.

“This is not something anybody gave him,” Martelli Sr. said. “He earned this opportunity.”