JOSE D. MARTINEZ
Men's & Women's Tennis Head Coach
Email: tennis@warner.edu, jose.martinez@warner.edu
Phone: 863.638.7692
Awards:
- Men’s tennis, NCCAA National Champion in 2016;
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All-Americans NAIA;
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All-Americans NCCAA;
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All-Conference First and Second Team Men’s and Women’s;
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#9 ranked female doubles team regional;
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#30 ranked female player in the nation;
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Lady Royals tennis team highest cumulative GPA in the conference with a 3.67 - 17th in NAIA across all sports (2011-12)
Former Royals tennis player, Jose Martinez took over the helm of the tennis program in 2008 and now carries the second longest tenure as Head Coach in The Sun Conference.
With 101 all-time victories, Martinez has recorded the most wins in program history.
The 2019-20 campaign marks the 13th season as head coach for Martinez, who has led the Royals to three NAIA national championship appearances - (2012, 2013, and 2016) and one NCCAA national championship title (2016). Since becoming head coach in 2009, Martinez has guided the Royals to the finals of the Sun Conference Tournament four times with matching Regular Season Runner up titles in each of the corresponding years.
The Royals have ended the season ranked in the top twenty-five nationally 7 times under Martinez and finished a program high 16th in the nation, twice (2013 and 2016).
The Fall 2019 season became a special one, when the program recorded its first ITA Regional Singles Champion (Bruno Pessoa). Pessoa's outstanding Fall would catapult him into a Royals best ITA national singles ranking of 8th, surpassing Rafael A. Coutinho (11th) set in 2016.
Another memorable year for the Royals was 2016. The team would finish regular season and conference runner-ups. This would allow them to be selected to attend both NCCAA and NAIA National Tournaments, with the team bringing back it's first ever national team title back to Warner University. After a 16-5 campaign, which set the mark for most wins in a season the Royals picked up Sun Conference Coach of the Year, Player of the Year (Rafael A. Coutinho), doubles team of the year (Coutinho and Coutinho), the NAIA National Rookie of the Year (Rafael A. Countinho).
Under his leadership in 2014, the Royals would compile the longest winning streak in program history with 11 matches. The streak began in February 8th with a 7-0 sweep of Ave Maria and lasted until April 10th when the Royals lost to Embry Riddle 1-8. For the teams efforts, Martinez was awarded Warner University Coach of the Year.
Martinez was named Sun Conference Coach of the Year in 2016. Under Martinez, Warner has seen 4 different players earn All-America honors.
Martinez has had success at developing players for their careers in college and beyond. With four players making a splash in the ATP tour (Francisco Perafan #1715, Rafael A. Coutinho #1197, Daniel Mora #992, and Patrick Frandji #1461).
Martinez is a respected and honored leader in collegiate tennis including being selected as President of the NAIA Coaches Association in 2014 and has served as the Chair for the ITA NAIA National Awards since 2014. His leadership on the ITA NAIA Operating Committee, ITA Ethics Committee, and the ITA Rules Committee are additional samples of his contributions to college tennis.
A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Martinez is married to the former Rosangela Pena of Brandon, Florida. They have three children: Cristina, Angel, and Natalia.
Another great experience and accomplishment for the Warner Royals. For the first time, the Royals won the ITA Regionals Tournament and classified in the Men’s Singles draw for the ITA Cup 2019. The event features student-athletes from NCAA Division II and III, NAIA and junior college and is contested over four days.
In 2016 coach Martinez had a fabulous year with the Royals. The hard work put on court every day and the connection between coach and players got the Men’s Tennis team the National Christian College Athletic Association National Championship. This achievement awarded the Royals with the Player of the year, Doubles team of the year for the Sun Conference, and two NAIA National Rookie of the year (2014 & 2016).
The excellent work on and off the court lead the Men’s and Women’s Head Tennis Coach to be recognized as NCCAA Regional and National coach of the year, Sun Conference Men’s coach of the year, recruiting men’s top 10 singles player in the nation reflects the commitment that over the years of experiences and hard work brought him some proud achievements, president NAIA Coaches Association, and since 2014 ITA National Awards Chair.
Coach Martinez was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the United States at an early young age. His coaching career started in 2000 at the Winter Haven Tennis Center Courts. Jose is not only a brilliant tennis coach, he also served our nation in the Army National Guard (1999-2007). He was a Squad leader, stationed all over the map, including a one year stint in Afghanistan where he was a team leader in an infantry unit.
Current certifications and active affiliations: PTR, NAIA Champion of Character, USTA, ITF and ITA.
