A Silver Level USBC certified coach with a track record of success, John Martin was hired as the head coach of the Valpo bowling program in May 2024 and is entering his second season in charge of the Beacons in 2025-26.
In his first season at the helm of Valpo, Martin led the Beacons to a 43-44 record - including the program's first win over Arkansas State since 2014 and its first win over 11-time ITC national champion Wichita State. Valpo was ranked as high as #19 in the NTCA top-25 poll and ended the season ranked 24th nationally.
The 2024-25 edition of the Beacons posted the second-best scoring average in both traditional play (189.8) and baker play (188.5) in program history, as all seven regulars who returned from the previous season improved their scoring average by at least six pins. Lilu Smith's 199.0 average was the third-best single-season mark in program history, while Peyton Rowley moved into 10th in that category with a 194.8 average.
Valpo broke the program record for five-game baker match score in a Feb. 21, 2025 win over Wichita State, posting an 1175, and had four other matches which cracked the program's top-10 for their respective match type. The Beacons also rolled the first 300 game in program history, the final game of a five-game baker match against UIndy Jan. 31, 2025.
Martin previously served as the head bowling coach at Stow–Munroe Falls [Ohio] H.S. He led the Bulldogs to a trio of team appearances at Ohio Division I state tournaments, highlighted by his 2018 boys team finishing as the state runner-up and the 2019 girls team qualifying first for bracket play before placing third. Martin coached three All-Ohio individual honorees as well, including the Ohio girls individual state champion in 2019. He was named Suburban League Coach of the year for the 2017-18 season.
Most recently, Martin was called back into action on an interim basis to lead the Stow-Munroe boys team during the 2022-23 season. Despite coming into the team in the middle of the campaign, Martin helped guide the Bulldogs as they advanced through sectionals and districts all the way to the state tournament.
Martin got his start in coaching bowling as he mentored his daughter, Jillian, in the early portion of her career. Jillian Martin, who is entering her senior season at Nebraska in 2025-26, has enjoyed unprecedented success for her age on the professional circuit, becoming the youngest bowler to win a PWBA national event when she captured the 2021 PWBA BowlTV Classic at 17 years old. She claimed her first professional major title as she won the 2024 USBC Queens, becoming the youngest bowler to win that event.
