By: Shanna Rose
Former West Virginia University assistant Erik Martin won the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award this week. This comes days after he was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Coach of the Year.
Martin led his South Carolina State to an 11-3 mark in MEAC regular season action and a 20-13 overall record while closing out the regular season on a nine-game win streak.
The Bulldogs lost to Norfolk State 66-65 in the MEAC finals.
South Carolina State ranked second in the MEAC in scoring offense averaging 80.1 points per game while holding their opponents to just 70.9 points per game for the second-best scoring defense.
The West Covina, California native is in his third season with the Bulldogs.
Prior to that, Martin, was one of the top assistant coaches in Division I basketball with over 20 years of coaching experience.
He spent 16 seasons with former Mountaineer head coach Bob Huggins, 15 of them at WVU, where he was responsible for post player development and assisting with game scouts, recruiting, along with scheduling, camps, fundraising and community appearances.
While with the Mountaineers, the team won the 2010 Big East Championship and advanced to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2010 Final Four and five NCAA Sweet 16s. Martin helped lead WVU to 326 wins.
Photo Credit: SC State Athletics
