ANN ARBOR, Mich. _ A Thursday night, late dinner. Not too late. A roadhouse place, American fare. The place wasn't empty, open till 10.
Phil Martelli walked up to the host ... "Table for two."
"Your name?"
"Phil."
Out here, it's more Phil than Phil Martelli. It didn't register with the host, but everybody inside Crisler Center the next night for Michigan's Big Ten opener against Iowa seemed to already know the name. Out here, Phil's just not the show. They're not chanting his name when he walks out like they always did on Hawk Hill. Martelli gets it all completely. This is the Juwan Howard Show and Martelli is one of its producers.
He has jumped into the details of the job, even the ones he hasn't done in decades _ scouting, recruiting, in addition to advising. Since it's Martelli, throw in needling. That's what the job is, officially associate head coach. They've added in a visiting pregame radio spot. That's kind of right up his alley, Martelli said when somebody asked.
Michigan, by any definition, is big-time. It's just not home. And we're talking about a 65-year-old guy who never left, from Southwest Philly just over the border into Delaware County, back to the city for high school at St. Joseph's Prep, back to the county for college at Widener, then a head coaching job up at Bishop Kenrick High, a college assistant job on Hawk Hill, then the big job there that Martelli held for 24 seasons before being let go last season.
"Have you dined with us before?" the waitress asked.
He had, Martelli told her.
"I thought I recognized ya," she said.
From the couple of times Martelli had been in there, or from television? Who knows? When Michigan surprised college hoops with decisive wins over North Carolina and Gonzaga last month at a tournament in the Bahamas, the Wolverines rose from unranked to fourth nationally. Dick Vitale made a point announcing a couple of games on ESPN how St. Joe's had made a mistake letting Martelli go. Martelli didn't talk about any of that at dinner, publicly or privately. He has aired his grievances. Conversation was about a new life in a different place.
He's not anonymous out here. A man dining alone jerked his head up, just for a moment, when Martelli walked by and sat down just across. Later that night, 10:52 p.m., there was a tweet, with a photo of Martelli at a table _ "side note, was sitting next to this guy at dinner like 30 minutes ago @PhilMartelli."
