Wheeling, W. Va. - At Wheeling University, the mission is to create students through Life, Leadership, and Service with and Among Others. This is done by developing the whole student both in the classroom and through other aspects of their lives, whether it be sports, relationships, or other hobbies. For Wheeling University Alum Greg Martin, that mission has been carried with him throughout his life as he now serves as the Head Boys Soccer Coach and Director of Operations at the Linsly School in Wheeling.
"My time at Wheeling was so impactful on my life," said Martin. "As a liberal arts school it wasn't just about the academic side of things but about growing as a whole person. That has kind of carried over into my current career. I am an administrator at the Linsly School, and we fully believe in educating the full person and character development. While it is a great educational institution, it also helps develop the whole person."
Like many athletes who grace the athletic fields of Wheeling University, Martin's journey began at a very young age growing up in South Carolina. Like many kids, he tried several different sports growing up looking for one that fit his style. Throughout the year he tried his hands at several different sports, but the one that kept coming back to him was Soccer. He quickly developed a passion for the game and knew that was the sport that he wanted to pursue for the long run.
"I think my dad cried grown man tears when I told him I wanted to play soccer because that was the one sport, he really had no experience with," said Martin. "I tried it and a bunch of my friends were playing and I just kind of grew and developed a passion for the game that has stayed with me my whole life."
As he continued to get better, Martin continued his passion into High School soccer, playing at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Northwestern was a big high school and because of that there was a lot of competition to go around. Martin competed against some of the top talent in his region and ended up being a one-year starter with the Trojans. During his senior year, he was named an All-Region and All-State award winner, as well as getting the opportunity to play in the senior north-south game for South Carolina.
Even though he didn't start all four years, he says that it was his coaches that motivated them to compete every day and it was that competition aspect that helped him as he eventually made the transition to Wheeling University.
"I had coaches at (Northwestern) that were very influential and helped me develop as a soccer player," said Martin. "They took pride in my efforts by coaching me individually and my successes became their successes. I went to a very big high school, so it was a very competitive team and it really helped that I had to compete to earn a position to play. It wasn't I was the Goalkeeper, so I get to be the goalkeeper, I had to compete against other talented players."
As Martin was looking for a place to continue his career after high school, it was the relationship he had with his now wife, who is also a Wheeling Alum ('03) that brought him to the West Virginia panhandle. He had met his wife at 15 years old and the two maintained a long-distance relationship. However, college was a chance for Martin to shorten that distance and that factored in to where he looked to continue his career. He was looking in the Ohio Valley and had several schools on his radar before finding Wheeling Jesuit University. It was just 40 minutes away from his then girlfriend's hometown and had a growing soccer program.
Martin was invited on campus by legendary Wheeling Men's Soccer Coach Jim Regan and took the opportunity to see all that Wheeling had to offer. When he got to campus in the Fall of 1999, Martin remembers seeing how new all the facilities were and being excited about the rise of the soccer program.
"When my father and I stepped on campus for a tryout with the team, we couldn't believe how beautiful the campus was and how new all the facilities were," said Martin. "James LaRosa Soccer Field was an immaculate grass pitch that I fell in love with. McDonough Center was relatively new; Ignatius was brand new. We just were taken back because at the time it was a relatively young university and we loved how beautiful it was. When we met the guys on the team it was a very fun environment and you felt like a part of the community instantly."
During his time at Wheeling University, Martin was a part of some of the best teams to ever take the field in the program's history. During his four seasons with the Cardinals, his teams went 63-19-4, winning two West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Championships. When he stepped onto campus, Martin was competing against three other goalies for playing time and did earn a few starts during his freshman and sophomore seasons. It was during this time that he learned more about the game as the team went on, what still stands today, as the best run in program history.
In the fall of 2000, during Martin's sophomore year, the team made a trip to the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Elite 8. The team went 20-2-1 during the regular season and was the first, and still only, team to make the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Even though they came up short, it was a year that Martin and his teammates will never forget.
"There is not a player on that 2000 team that doesn't look back at that season and what an amazing accomplishment it was," said Martin. "And at the same time, we are still disappointed about it because we didn't achieve our ultimate goal of winning the National Championship. But what a fun run it was, we finished the regular season undefeated, and I think it was the culmination of the right amount of talent all ending up in the same place. When we have conversations today, we still reminisce about how great of a season that was."
Martin would graduate from Wheeling in 2003 and to this day sits seventh all-time in Goals Against Average for a single season for his work in 2001 and 2002 when he averaged 1.43 goals per game. He graduated with a degree in marketing and initially used it to get into the restaurant management business. He spent 12 years working in that field, but something was calling him to get back to helping others grow. He was able to do that a little bit in the restaurant management field, but it wasn't to the degree he wanted.
So, in 2009, Martin found his way back to Wheeling as he pursued his teaching certification. He took several classes at the university while still working in Marketing and eventually became a High School Math teacher at the Linsly School. Martin loved to help people grow and reach their full potential and teaching allows him to do that every day.
"Honestly working with young people and seeing them grow and develop and achieve goals is such a rewarding process and I wanted more of that," said Martin. "I was able to do that in the restaurant business to some degree, but I wanted more of that because that is what I love to do. Now that I'm at the Linsly School I'm able to do that every day. It is great getting to meet young people and watching them grow and develop."
This year, Martin is entering his ninth year at The Linsly School in a role that has grown. He is now the Director of Operations for the Linsly School and continues to teach statistics to the seniors. He is also the boys' soccer coach at the Linsly School and last season led his team to an 8-12 overall record and were OVAC 1A-3A runners up. He now uses some of the same techniques he learned from his coaches to help get the best out of his athletes every day and Wheeling helped prepare him for that challenge.
"Anytime you are a player, and you are working with other coaches or even an assistant working with another coach you pick up things you want to pull from and teach the next generation of kids," said Martin. "I think the number one thing to being a coach, and Jim was always great at this, is developing a positive relationship with your players. If you don't have a positive relationship, it is difficult to get your players to buy into anything you are trying to do. Once kids realize that you care about them, not just the soccer player but the person, everything gets easier from there."
For people looking to pursue their education at Wheeling, Martin says there is no better place. He says college is what you make it and his time at Wheeling was some of the best times in his life and prepared him for what was ahead.
"If you're looking for that small school where you can go in and make an impact and have an impact made upon you, there isn't a better place you can go," said Martin. "It is such a beautiful campus, a great community, and I don't know what more you would want? Wheeling offers all kinds of programs whether Athletics or Academics where if you want to make an impact and become a leader it definitely has the blueprint for you."
