Peggy Martin is now women's college volleyball's all-time winningest coach. With a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 victory on Saturday, Sept. 21, Martin's Spring Hill Badgers recorded her 1,349th career victory, more than any women's volleyball coach at any division in NCAA history. She picked up one more win on Saturday with Spring Hill's victory over Henderson State later that afternoon.
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Martin began her career with Central Missouri and helped turn them into one of DII women's volleyball's most successful programs. In 33 seasons at the helm, she recorded a 1,064-281-8 mark, good for a .789 winning percentage. Martin never had a losing season in Warrensburg and won at least 25 matches for 31 consecutive seasons.
The Jennies set the record with 25 straight trips to the DII women's volleyball championship tournament, reaching the finals (the final eight teams remaining) six times. Her lone runner-up campaign came in 1987 as she still chases that first national championship.
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She then headed to Spring Hill and turned an eight-win team from her first season in 2009 into a 27-win team in 2010. In the eight years since that inaugural eight-win year, the Badgers have never recorded fewer than 23 wins. Last season, Martin led the Badgers to a 32-win season, including a 17-0 run through the South Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the regular season and tournament titles.
Only two head coaches in NCAA women's volleyball history — Martin and Larry Bock — have amassed 1,300 wins in their careers and just five have eclipsed the 1,200 wins barrier. Here are the top 5 coaches in women's volleyball history through games on Sept. 21, 2019.
| Coach | School (Years) | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Peggy Martin* | Central Missouri ((1975-78, 80-2008); Spring Hill (2009-present) | 1,350 |
| Larry Bock | Juniata (1977-2010); Navy (2011-17) | 1,348 |
| Russ Rose* | Penn State (1979-present) | 1,278 |
| Tracy Rietzke* | Kentucky Wesleyan (1982087); Rockhurst (1988-present) | 1,253 |
| Dave Shoji | Hawaii (1975-2017) | 1,202 |
* = active (all records per the official NCAA women's volleyball record books at NCAA.org.)
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