Ohio Wesleyan Names Athletic Facility In Honor Of Record-Setting Coach
Men’s soccer coach Jay Martin is recognized at a Homecoming Weekend celebration at which Ohio Wesleyan announced plans to name the soccer complex in his honor. (Photo by Mark Schmitter ’12)
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University is recognizing legendary Battling Bishop men’s soccer coach Jay Martin – the winningest coach in all divisions of U.S. collegiate men’s soccer in history – by naming the school’s soccer facility in his honor.
The Jay Martin Soccer Complex, 249 Park Ave., Delaware, houses Roy Rike Field and practice areas used by the Battling Bishop men’s and women’s soccer teams. The university will begin using the new name officially for the 2013 season.
The decision by the university’s Board of Trustees to honor health and human kinetics professor and men’s soccer coach John A. “Jay” Martin III, Ph.D., through the naming of the soccer complex was announced during Ohio Wesleyan’s Homecoming Weekend. Martin and his 2011 NCAA Division III national championship-winning team were recognized during the weekend.
The team earned Ohio Wesleyan’s second national championship in December 2011 by defeating Calvin College 2-1 at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio. In the same game that saw the Battling Bishops claim the championship, Martin earned his 608th career victory, making him the winningest coach in the history of U.S. collegiate men’s soccer.
“Coach Jay Martin leads and inspires his players on and off the field,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “He is the personification of leadership, sportsmanship, intelligence, and determination. Jay is a wonderful role model for all of us, and it is exceptionally fitting that our soccer complex be named in his honor.”
Martin came to Ohio Wesleyan in 1978 and is in his 36th year as head coach of the men’s soccer team. Besides coaching two Division III national championship teams, Martin has seen two other teams advance to the Division III national championship game. His teams have appeared in 32 NCAA tournaments and eight national semifinals. They have won 12 regional titles, including nine of the last 15 seasons that the NCAA tournament has included a regional format, and 23 conference championships. His teams have won 21 Stu Parry Awards, recognizing Ohio’s top Division III team each year.
Martin has been recognized by his peers as Regional Coach of the Year 15 times while at Ohio Wesleyan and as National Coach of the Year in 1991, 1998, and 2011. His teams won an NCAA-record 18 consecutive Division III tournament berths from 1978-95. He is one of only four individuals to receive Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association’s Honor Award since the association’s founding in 1949. He received the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Honor Award in 2007.
Martin earned his undergraduate degree at Springfield College and both his master’s and doctoral degrees from The Ohio State University. He is a tenured member of the Ohio Wesleyan faculty.
Learn more about Martin and Ohio Wesleyan’s men’s soccer program at www.battlingbishops.com. Learn more about the Department of Health and Human Kinetics at https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-health-and-human-kinetics/.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.