Phil Martelli won’t have to watch his players hit their heads in his office anymore. As part of a $35 million project — which includes renovating and adding more than 1,000 seats to newly named Hagan Arena — the St. Joe’s coach has a lavish, new home on Hawk Hill.
The Ramsay Basketball Center, named after Hall of Fame coach Dr. Jack Ramsay (who went 234-72 with the Hawks and won an NBA title with Portland), is a 20,000-square-foot facility that Martelli believes can match up with any school in the country. The locker room was donated by and named after Jameer Nelson.
Martelli knows the new facility will make a big difference for players once they arrive on campus.
“[Before, players] hung out in their apartments or their cars and they waited until they could come in,” joked Martelli. “As Jamie Moyer would say, he ate a lot of lunches in his car. So there was no lounge, there was no locker room, there was no office space, but now there is.”
Martelli’s biggest fear is that players will develop a sense of entitlement.
“What we need to remember is where we came from,” he said. “If a player wears No. 11, there will be a plaque that lists all the guys that have worn No. 11, so that they always remember that they’re just the latest, not the greatest. The room is named for the greatest.”