Phil Martelli returns to Palestra as Michigan head coach for a day

By DYLAN LUTEY & ADAM ZAGORIA

Phil Martelli believes the Palestra is the best college basketball venue in the nation — and he got a chance to serve as a head coach there one more time on Sunday.

Unfortunately it came in a 79-73 loss to Penn State, which features his son Jimmy Martelli as an assistant.

Michigan is now 6-9, 1-3 in the Big Ten, while Penn State improved to 8-7, 2-2.

Ahead of the contest at the historic arena, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard named Martelli the head coach for the game. Martelli filled in for Howard earlier in the season as head coach when Howard was recovering from heart surgery.

Martelli spent 34 years at St. Joe’s and served as both the assistant coach (10 years) and head coach (24 years) before joining the Wolverines’ staff. He has 449 career wins as a head coach.

Opened in 1927, The Palestra is the oldest major college arena still in use today and has hosted more games, more visiting teams and more NCAA tournaments than any other facility. Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson once played there in the same year, and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have both played there.

Full circle moment for Phil Martelli and his son Jimmy, a Penn State assistant, in their returns to The Palestra.

Phil is no stranger to the arena, having watched and coached games here since his childhood.

More on the Martelli Bowl: https://t.co/Jaob5UlAYN pic.twitter.com/TiDltaG7KN

— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) January 7, 2024

“For our players and for the Penn State players and for our coaches and the Penn State coaches, we’re walking where the greatest who have ever done this are walking,” Martelli, whose last win as a head coach in the building came Dec. 22, 2018, told Stephen Bardo of the Big Ten Network ahead of the game.

“Pick any name, and say did Wilt Chamberlain play here? Oh yeah, Wilt Chamberlain played here…Kobe played here as a high school player. It’s hosted the most NCAA games but it’s the Friday and Saturday nights when the Philadellphia teams were playing here that make it absolutely extradorinary.”

In November, when Martelli coached Michigan to a rout of St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, he said, “You’re gonna get pissed, but it’s the second-best basketball arena because everybody knows The Palestra is the best basketball arena.”

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