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Coaching Staff
 Becky Martin, Head Coach
410-857-2577
rmartin@mcdaniel.edu
She arrived at the Middle Atlantic Conference track championships in 1981 as a grad assistant, helping coach the team while studying for a master’s in education at Western Maryland (now McDaniel College). She left with a second straight gold medal in the high jump – after winning in street clothes and sneakers. And without having trained for a solid year.
Martin’s surprising, spur-of-the-moment entry – on orders from the head coach – is just a minor footnote in a career that has seen her become both the most prolific scorer and winningest coach in program history. In fact, her athletic career was so noteworthy, McDaniel inducted her into its Sports Hall of Fame in October of 2004, without the consideration of her numerous coaching accomplishments.
Martin, a multisport star at Westminster High School, became the Green Terror head coach in 1981, just a year after graduation. Entering her 27th season, she has compiled a 388-246 record. She has led the team to 12 league playoff berths, one Middle Atlantic Conference division title in 1985-86, its first-ever Centennial Conference (CC) crown and NCAA playoff berth in 2002, a feat she pulled again each of the next two seasons. Her team has posted 20-win campaigns in each of the last six seasons and advanced as far as the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Last season, her team accomplished even more program firsts. In addition to a program- and CC-record 19-game winning streak, the squad captured its first regular-season conference crown and first at-large NCAA tournament berth.
After launching her career with three losing years, Martin has endured only two more since. In 1988-89 she won the MAC Southern Division Coach of the Year award after leading then Western Maryland College to a 20-5 mark. Her 25 wins in 2003-04 and 2004-05 set a new program mark for wins in a season. The fifth win of that 2003-04 campaign made her just the 36th coach in Division III to reach the 300-win plateau. Her team also picked up the program’s 500th win during the NCAA tournament that same season. With 12 wins this year, she will join the 400-win club, which has 22 other members entering the 2007-08 campaign.
As a 5-9 center in a career spanning from 1976 to 1980, Martin became the team’s first 1,000-point scorer (1,299), led Western Maryland College to its first conference title (1979-80) and won the division MVP award as a senior. Despite having fallen to ninth on the all-time scoring list and sixth in rebounds, Martin still holds program records for scoring average in a season (23.0 ppg in 1979-80) and career (19.1). She also still holds the mark for points in a game, scoring 39 against Ursinus in the final game of her career.
While a student-athlete, Martin helped Western Maryland win three straight conference titles in volleyball (1977-79) with records of 19-5, 30-5 and a program-record 36-3.
Martin’s experience has landed her on several committees, including the ECAC Division III Women’s Basketball Mid-Atlantic Championship Committee. She is currently the chair of the CC Women’s Basketball Committee and has served as the chair of the College’s Sports Hall of Fame Committee.
Life is not all coaching and committee work for Martin. She is an avid traveler and lifelong athlete. Always up for a round of golf, Martin enjoys the outdoors. She has scaled Mt. Rainier in Washington, rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, biked the 180-mile C&O Canal Trail and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef.
Her passion for travel and adventure is one that she passes on to her student-athletes. Martin has taken her basketball team and their families on a whirlwind tour of France for exhibition play and a heavy dose of sightseeing several times. Those trips included stops in Paris, Nice and Normandy.
However, Martin, a Westminster native knows she does not need to travel overseas for exploration. Living just a short drive from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, or the bustling city of Baltimore, Martin needs little more than the keys to her car to enjoy life to its fullest.
And enjoying life means taking chances and making good on her promises, even when it involves punching holes into her body. Trying to convince their coach during the preseason that a tattoo would be appropriate if the team won the conference, Martin bargained her self-described self-mutilation down to a cartilage ring before agreeing to the deal.
When the team made good on its half of the deal, Martin, surrounded by her team, added a ring to the top of her ear, and a Centennial ring to her hand.
She arrived at the Middle Atlantic Conference track championships in 1981 as a grad assistant, helping coach the team while studying for a master’s in education at Western Maryland (now McDaniel College). She left with a second straight gold medal in the high jump – after winning in street clothes and sneakers. And without having trained for a solid year.
Martin’s surprising, spur-of-the-moment entry – on orders from the head coach – is just a minor footnote in a career that has seen her become both the most prolific scorer and winningest coach in program history. In fact, her athletic career was so noteworthy, McDaniel inducted her into its Sports Hall of Fame in October of 2004, without the consideration of her numerous coaching accomplishments.
Martin, a multisport star at Westminster High School, became the Green Terror head coach in 1981, just a year after graduation. Entering her 27th season, she has compiled a 388-246 record. She has led the team to 12 league playoff berths, one Middle Atlantic Conference division title in 1985-86, its first-ever Centennial Conference (CC) crown and NCAA playoff berth in 2002, a feat she pulled again each of the next two seasons. Her team has posted 20-win campaigns in each of the last six seasons and advanced as far as the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Last season, her team accomplished even more program firsts. In addition to a program- and CC-record 19-game winning streak, the squad captured its first regular-season conference crown and first at-large NCAA tournament berth.
After launching her career with three losing years, Martin has endured only two more since. In 1988-89 she won the MAC Southern Division Coach of the Year award after leading then Western Maryland College to a 20-5 mark. Her 25 wins in 2003-04 and 2004-05 set a new program mark for wins in a season. The fifth win of that 2003-04 campaign made her just the 36th coach in Division III to reach the 300-win plateau. Her team also picked up the program’s 500th win during the NCAA tournament that same season. With 12 wins this year, she will join the 400-win club, which has 22 other members entering the 2007-08 campaign.
As a 5-9 center in a career spanning from 1976 to 1980, Martin became the team’s first 1,000-point scorer (1,299), led Western Maryland College to its first conference title (1979-80) and won the division MVP award as a senior. Despite having fallen to ninth on the all-time scoring list and sixth in rebounds, Martin still holds program records for scoring average in a season (23.0 ppg in 1979-80) and career (19.1). She also still holds the mark for points in a game, scoring 39 against Ursinus in the final game of her career.
While a student-athlete, Martin helped Western Maryland win three straight conference titles in volleyball (1977-79) with records of 19-5, 30-5 and a program-record 36-3.
Martin’s experience has landed her on several committees, including the ECAC Division III Women’s Basketball Mid-Atlantic Championship Committee. She is currently the chair of the CC Women’s Basketball Committee and has served as the chair of the College’s Sports Hall of Fame Committee.
Life is not all coaching and committee work for Martin. She is an avid traveler and lifelong athlete. Always up for a round of golf, Martin enjoys the outdoors. She has scaled Mt. Rainier in Washington, rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, biked the 180-mile C&O Canal Trail and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef.
Her passion for travel and adventure is one that she passes on to her student-athletes. Martin has taken her basketball team and their families on a whirlwind tour of France for exhibition play and a heavy dose of sightseeing several times. Those trips included stops in Paris, Nice and Normandy.
However, Martin, a Westminster native knows she does not need to travel overseas for exploration. Living just a short drive from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, or the bustling city of Baltimore, Martin needs little more than the keys to her car to enjoy life to its fullest.
And enjoying life means taking chances and making good on her promises, even when it involves punching holes into her body. Trying to convince their coach during the preseason that a tattoo would be appropriate if the team won the conference, Martin bargained her self-described self-mutilation down to a cartilage ring before agreeing to the deal.
When the team made good on its half of the deal, Martin, surrounded by her team, added a ring to the top of her ear, and a Centennial ring to her hand.
.jpg) Brian Hollingswoth, Assistant Coach
Born in Union Bridge, Md., Carroll County is home for Hollingsworth. Like so many members of the faculty and staff at McDaniel, Hollingsworth enjoys the sense of family he has experienced here on the Hill. Perhaps that is because he has been coaching basketball for more than a decade at the College, or it may have to do with the fact that four-fifths of his family either has, or is working towards a degree from the College. Whatever the case may be, Becky Martin is certainly glad to have Hollingsworth on the staff.
“Brian is the calming influence on our staff,” says Martin. “When the pressure turns up, he becomes more laid back. That provides a nice balance for both Phil and myself.”
Hollingsworth’s background in athletics runs broad and deep. The former All-Carroll County selection on the gridiron showcased his talent on the football field at Salisbury University. There, he received his Bachelor of Arts in recreation in 1985. Upon his graduation, Hollingsworth returned to his high school, Francis Scott Key, where he coached softball until 2000. He also coached girls’ basketball, running the junior varsity squad from 1985 until 1987 before taking over as the varsity coach.
He held that position until 1994 when he arrived at McDaniel (then Western Maryland) as an assistant with the men’s program. In 2000, Hollingsworth made the leap from the men’s team onto Martin’s staff.
Away from campus, Hollingsworth teaches physical education at the Alfred D. Noyes Children’s Center.
A volunteer with the American Cancer Society and a softball umpire, Hollingsworth completed his Master of Science in education in 2005, sharing his graduation day with his stepdaughter Julie.
Hollingsworth’s wife, Bobbi ’06, works in the College’s Human Resources Office. The couple resides in Westminster and has one son Brad and two daughters, Julie and Jenni. They also have two grandsons, Austin and Tyler.
.jpg) Phil Popielski, Assistant Coach
pbball@hotmail.com
Popielski enters his eighth season as an assistant coach at McDaniel. The Clarion University graduate had coached high school basketball in both Anne Arundel and Calvert Counties for 13 years before making the jump to the collegiate ranks.
In 1998, Popielski earned the Anne Arundel County Coach of the Year honors for his work with the Meade Senior High School’s girls’ varsity squad. His successes at Meade were a result of Popielski’s competitive drive. It’s that spirit that compliments Martin’s style.
“Phil raises the level of intensity on the staff,” says Martin. “He is one of the sharpest bench coaches in the game. I am very happy that he is now in Carroll County as an educator. Obviously his administrative duties come before his work here at McDaniel, but his proximity to campus will certainly benefit the program.”
Popielski’s passion for coaching extends beyond the campus at McDaniel. Aside from working basketball skills camps, the native of Johnsonburg, Pa., finds time to help out with his son’s baseball team or do clinics for his daughter’s basketball team.
Popielski has not just coached athletics, he has officiated them as well. From 1984 through 1990, he was a PIAA and MPSSA Basketball Official and is a MPSSA and FIFA Soccer Official.
Popielski, a member of the Knights of Columbus, received his master’s degree in administration and supervision at Bowie State University in 1994. He currently resides in Westminster with his wife, Stephanie, and their four children, Cassie, Michael, Sydney and Joshua.
Popielski is an assistant principal at East Westminster Middle School.
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