Brown to name ex-player as new basketball coach

Brown to name ex-player as new basketball coach

Brown University has apparently decided on a new men's basketball head coach.

GoLocalProv.com has learned the Bears will name Mike Martin, a former player at Brown under Glen Miller, as their next program leader.  Martin will replace Jesse Agel, who was not retained after the completion of the 2011-12 season.

Martin has spent the past six years as an assistant coach on the staff at Ivy League rival Penn, including the 2006-07 season where the Quakers finished 22-9 overall (13-1 Ivy) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.  Martin has helped recruit and mentor some of the Ivy League's top players during his time at the school, including Zack Rosen, who was a unanimous pick by the Ivy coaches as the 2011-12 Ivy League Player of the Year and was one of 10 finalists nationally for the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

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Martin came to Penn after working at Brown, both as a player and a coach. He served as an assistant coach for the 2005-06 Bears, helping them finish 6-8 in the Ivy League (with the six wins coming against six different teams) and an overall mark of 10-17.

A four-year starter as a player at Brown, Martin was part of the winningest class in the Bears' 100-year basketball history (63-45 four-year record). He also helped the Class of 2004 to a school-record 39-17 Ivy League mark during that period -- the best by an Ivy League team other than Penn and Princeton since 1970. Martin currently ranks 10th in career assists at Brown with 232.

An economics major at Brown, Martin was co-captain of Brown's 2003-04 team that finished second in the Ivy League standings for the third time in his four years. He also helped the Bears to a school-record four straight winning seasons.

A native of Agawam, MA - where he starred at Cathedral High School - Martin averaged 11 points per game for Brown as a senior. He also played a major role on the Bears' 2003 team that posted a 12-2 Ivy League mark and earned a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.

After graduating from Brown, Martin spent the 2004-05 season playing professionally for Dart Killester in Ireland's top division of professional basketball.

No decision has yet been reached as to assistant coaches, or the makeup of the new basketball staff.

(Image and bio information courtesy of pennathletics.com)