Who can follow Mike Martin? Five early FSU Baseball head coaching candidates

Wayne McGahee III | Tallahassee Democrat

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch it: Mike Martin talks FSU's season-ending loss to MSU Mike Martin discusses FSU's season-ending loss to Mississippi State in walk-off fashion.

Florida State head coach Mike Martin announced that he will be retiring after the 2019 baseball season following his 40th year as the head coach of the Seminoles.

Martin became the all-time winningest head coach in college baseball history on May 5 after an extra-inning victory over Clemson and is 13 wins shy of becoming the first coach to break the 2,000 win barrier.

Martin has led the Seminoles to the College World Series 16 times during his tenure and made the postseason every year of his tenure.

Whoever takes over for the Seminole legend will have huge shoes to fill. Here are five early candidates -- in alphabetical order -- to take over as the next head coach at FSU.

Link Jarrett

Current job: UNC Greensboro (five seasons)

Why he would make a good candidate: Jarrett is a former FSU player that knows the program as a four-year starter at shortstop from 1991-1994. He went to three College World Series as a player.

Jarrett coached at FSU during the 2003 season before going on to be an assistant coach at East Carolina and Auburn. He was named the SEC Assistant Coach of the Year in 2010.

He took over the UNCG program in 2014.

After a rough start over his first two seasons where UNCG went 44-55, Jarrett has turned the program around with three straight seasons of more than 35 wins. The program is 113-60 over the last three years and went 39-15 in 2018 and has won the Southern Conference Coach of the Year Award twice in five years.

Greg Lovelady

Current job: UCF (two seasons)

Why he would make a good candidate: Lovelady is a talented up-and-coming coach that turned around the UCF program in his first year in 2017.

The Knights were on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA tournament in 2018, but Lovelady has done a very good job with what he had to work with coming in going 75-43 in his first two years after UCF was 56-61 in the two years prior to his arrival.

Prior to UCF, Lovelady was the head coach at Wright State where he led his teams to a 124-56 record over three years.

He played college baseball at Miami.

Related: Florida State's Mike Martin to retire after 2018-19 season

Mike Martin Jr.

Current Job: FSU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator (21 seasons)

Why he would make a good candidate: If there's anyone that knows the program inside-and-out more than Mike Martin it's his son Mike Martin Jr.

The younger Martin played catcher at FSU from 1993-1995, and transitioned into a coach on the FSU staff following a three-year stint in the minors.

Under Martin Jr.'s tutelage, FSU is consistently among the leaders in walks and on-base percentage in college baseball.

He has been around the FSU program all his life, and has had a huge role in the success that the Seminoles have found on the diamond.

Related: Father’s Day curveball for Seminoles Coach Mike Martin & son

Related: Mike Martin: A memorable ride for Eleven

Doug Mientkiewicz

Current Job: Manager of the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)

Why he would make a good candidate: Mientkiewicz is a former FSU All-American that has spent the last seven years coaching in the Minor Leagues.

He has an all-time record of 427-336 as a manager in the minors. He played 12 years in the MLB, won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox, and won a Gold Medal with Team USA in 2000.

He's drawn interest from MLB teams for their head coaching positions and is considered one of the top Minor League managers in the game by most pundits.

Mientkiewicz played three years at FSU as a first baseman from 1993-1995 and went into the FSU Hall of Fame in 2002.

David Ross

Current job: N/A

Why he would make a good candidate: Ross is the hometown hero that played at Florida High that's going to be mentioned for the job despite not having any coaching experience.

He played 15 years in the MLB and won two World Series with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.

During the latter part of his career, Ross was brought in to work with the pitching staffs in a teaching role, and has been praised for his work with the young pitchers

He played in two College World Series -- one for Auburn in 1997 and one for Florida in 1998 -- before being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ross retired from baseball following the 2016 season.

The David Ross files: