Dale Martin, a member of the Missouri S&T coaching staff for the past 29 years, will resign as head men’s basketball coach effective June 30. He has held the position for 22 years.

Martin is stepping down after the Miners finished with a record of 9-17 in 2008-09. He concludes his coaching tenure with 239 wins, the second-highest total of any basketball coach in school history. He missed five games during the recent season for health reasons, but was back with the team for its last nine games of the year.

Assistant coach Jim Glash, who handled the head coaching duties for the Miners during Martin’s absence last season, will be elevated to the head coaching position on July 1.

“I am grateful for the opportunity I had to coach here at this outstanding institution.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity I had to coach here at this outstanding institution,” Martin says. “It is just time to step away from this. Coach (Billy) Key brought me to Rolla and I thank him for that and the university’s administration for their support over the last 29 years.

“People may wonder why I would step down when I’m this close to Coach Key’s record, but I would rather be second to him in this case,” Martin added.

“I appreciate the hard work and dedication that Dale has put into the program over the years,” says Mark Mullin, director of athletics at Missouri S&T. “He has meant a great deal to the department and the institution.”

Martin joined the Missouri S&T staff in 1980 after serving as an assistant coach at Central Missouri State University (now the University of Central Missouri). He assisted Key for seven years before taking over the men’s basketball program when Key retired from coaching after the 1986-87 season.

Martin led the Miners to the 1995-96 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular season and post-season tournament championships and earned the league’s “Coach of the Year” award. In that season, Martin led the Miners to a 25-6 record and to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional championship game in a tournament held in Rolla.

At the end of that season, Martin was named regional coach of the year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the region’s top coach by Division II Bulletin.

In total, Martin led the Miners to nine conference tournament appearances and represented the NCAA Division II in the NABC Congress.

“I am confident that this program will be put in very capable hands as it moves forward, because I believe that it is very close to breaking through in this league,” Martin says.

Glash has been the Miners’ assistant coach for the last two seasons and has previous collegiate head coaching experience at Olney Central College, where he served for nine seasons, eight of which were winning seasons for the Blue Knights.