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Grand Achievement For FSU Baseball Coach

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By SCOTT CARTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 6, 2008

Updated: 05/06/2008 12:40 am

TALLAHASSEE - The night it happened, Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin was clueless. Actually, nearly a month after his historic win, Martin remained unaware of the uncommon milestone.

If wins and losses are the ultimate measuring stick in sports, then Martin ranks with the all-time greats. How so, you ask, considering Martin has never won a College World Series?

When FSU won 7-5 at Jacksonville on April 2, Martin improved to 1,000 games over .500 in his career.

"I had no idea," Martin said recently. "It's obviously something you never think about."

Martin's victory parade continues to move deeper into the record books. Martin's career record stands at 1,524-513-4 after Monday's 4-2 win at Clemson.

He earned career win No. 1,500 on March 16 at Georgia Tech, joining Wichita State's Gene Stephenson and Texas' Augie Garrido as the only coaches in NCAA Division I history to reach that mark. Stephenson and former Texas coach Cliff Gustafson are the other Division I coaches to win at least 1,000 more games than they have lost.

In his 29th season, Martin has the same goal today as when he took over the program in 1980: winning that elusive CWS title.

"If I'm going to tee it up, I'm going to try and make a birdie," Martin said. "That's the only way I know how to play. There has only been one goal for me since I got into it, and that's to win it all. There's a very good chance that I will never win it all, but it doesn't stop me from working hard to be the best."

For some perspective, here are some of the impressive won-loss records to compare to Martin:

Connie Mack

3,731-3,948

He is MLB's all-time winningest manager. No other major-league manager ever has won 3,000 games, but Mack lost more games than he won.

Tony La Russa

2,395-2,082*

He leads all active managers in wins and ranks third all-time, but the Tampa native is nowhere near 1,000 games over .500.

Joe McCarthy

2,125-1,333

He guided the Yankees to four consecutive World Series titles (1936-39), and won at a .615 clip over his career, the best in MLB managerial history.

New York Yankees

9,400-7,178*

Baseball's all-time winningest franchise is more than 2,000 games above .500. The Giants are the only other club with an all-time record 1,000 games over .500.

Bobby Bowden

373-119-4

The all-time winningest coach in Division I history leads Joe Paterno by a game, but for Bowden to reach 1,000 games over .500, he'll need to go undefeated until he is about 212.

Pat Summitt

983-182

If there is a basketball coach with a chance to reach the 1,000-games-over-.500 mark, the Tennessee women's coach is the one.

Adolph Rupp

876-190

The Kentucky legend won at an remarkable pace, but still falls short.

Scotty Bowman

1,244-574-313-10

The NHL's all-time winningest coach is the only NHL coach in history with 1,000 career victories.

Lenny Wilkens

1,332-1,155

The NBA's all-time winningest coach flirted with .500 a lot during his career.

Phil Jackson

1,159-495**

He knows how to win with the best of them, and with a few more championships, he could crack the barrier.

* Regular-season records through Sunday. **Includes playoff wins through sweep of Denver in first round of 2008 playoffs.

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