Lessons from the Best Coach: Develop a Winning Team Culture that Lasts

With more than 750 wins, Dr. Jay Martin is the winningest men's soccer coach in all NCAA divisions. His excellence over four decades is second to none, and he offers the secret to his success in this book. He suggests that coaches do not make players better; only players make players better. So then, what is the job of the coach? According to Dr. Martin, a coach's job is to create an environment where the players can get better (the coaching) and want to get better (the players' motivation). A good coach creates an environment that is motivating, challenging, and fun! This book is a road map all coaches can use to create an environment that is sustainable over time. In nine lessons, Dr. Martin presents the steps he uses to create a winning team environment. He believes that leaders create the culture, the culture determines acceptable behaviors, and these behaviors are necessary to sustain the winning culture.

Dr. Jay Martin is the winningest coach in NCAA men's soccer history with more than 750 wins. He is the first men's soccer coach in any NCAA division to reach the 700-win mark. His career winning percentage of .802 ranks 12th all-time in the NCAA. In 46 seasons, Martin's teams have compiled a 291-30-22 record in conference play, a winning percentage of .880, and have won 26 conference crowns.

In 2011, Martin guided Ohio Wesleyan to its second NCAA Division III national championship. Along the way, the Bishops extended their unbeaten string in NCAC competition to a league-record 40 games. Another peak in Martin's already-illustrious coaching career came when he guided the Battling Bishops to the 1998 NCAA Division III championship.

His teams have reached the NCAA Division III semifinals nine times, finishing as national runners-up twice in addition to the 1998 and 2011 titles. They have been among the final 16 teams a total of 29 times and have brought home 12 regional titles, including 9 in the last 15 seasons that the NCAA tournament included a regional format. Ohio Wesleyan holds the NCAA Division III record with 42 playoff appearances and has recorded 65 playoff victories. Martin's teams set another NCAA record with 18 consecutive Division III tournament berths from 1978-95 and have won an unprecedented 23 Stu Parry Awards, the latter recognizing Ohio's top Division III team each year.

He has been the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year 16 times in his 46 years at Ohio Wesleyan and was named NSCAA national Coach of the Year in 1991, 1998, and 2011. In 2000, Martin received the Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association's Honor Award, only the fourth time that award was bestowed since the association's founding in 1949. He received the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Honor Award in 2007 and was inducted into the United Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame in 2020.

Under Martin's guidance, Ohio Wesleyan was the winningest men's soccer team in all NCAA divisions during the 1980s, compiling a winning percentage of .815 to top such programs as Indiana, UNC-Greensboro and UCLA. The Battling Bishops bettered that during the 1990s, compiling a winning percentage of .825, and improved upon that during the 2000s, with a winning percentage of .827.

His lacrosse teams posted an 8-year record of 104-34, winning 3 Midwest Lacrosse Association titles, earning 6 NCAA playoff bids, and twice making Martin the MLA Coach of the Year. In both sports, in 51 seasons, Martin has turned out 61 All-America and 214 all-region or All-Midwest players.

Beyond coaching, Martin also has served a term as president of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America as well as a six-year stint on the NCAA Division III selection committee, including four years as committee chair. He has been a color analyst of the Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew for nine seasons. In addition, he took over as editor of NSCAA's The Soccer Journal in January 2003, becoming the publication's third editor since its establishment in 1950.

Martin is a professor in Ohio Wesleyan's physical education department and served as the Battling Bishops' athletics director from 1985-2004. During his 19 years as athletics director, Ohio Wesleyan intercollegiate athletics enjoyed unprecedented success. Ohio Wesleyan won a conference-record six consecutive NCAC all-sports championships from 1988-94. More recently, the Battling Bishops finished in the top 25 of the NACDA Directors Cup NCAA Division III standings in 6 of the last 8 academic years under Martin's leadership.

Prior to joining the Ohio Wesleyan faculty, Martin served as a two-sport assistant at The Ohio State University, from which he received both MA and PhD degrees. Earlier, he was director of sport at the Munich, Germany, YMCA, coaching soccer, volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse and athletics director at the American International School at Düsseldorf.

A native of Hingham, MA, Martin received his BA degree from Springfield College in 1971. He lettered in soccer and lacrosse, earning All-America laurels in the latter. In Germany, he also played soccer for the Kaiserwerth Club, played professional basketball, and served on the staff of the Volleyball Pavilion at the 1972 Olympics.