University of Delaware Athletics
BLUE HEN SPOTLIGHT: The Dynamic Duo of Delaware Women's Basketball
3/10/2016 8:01:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Written by Emma Sills, Athletics Media Relations Student Intern
But the relationship between the two started way before their debut for the Blue Hens.
Growing up, Martin and Radice came from similar backgrounds. Both have twin sisters to whom they are very close with. Both were also double sport athletes in college. Martin played basketball and softball for Lock Haven while Radice was a member of the basketball and track & field teams at Fordham. When they were not able to play basketball anymore they found a way to keep the game in their life by taking on coaching.
The two coaches first crossed paths at a Final Four Tournament when Martin was an assistant for Seton Hall while Radice was an assistant for Marist College.
“I needed someone to walk back to the hotel with after dinner one night and Jeanine was the only one of the all the coaches that was going back,” remarked Martin. “The next day I happened to be sitting near her and we just kept bumping into each other. It was pure coincidence that we met.”
Over the next year, they continued to maintain contact by working camps for each other's programs and building a relationship that would one day turn int
o a dynamic duo.
The next season, when an assistant coaching position opened up at Seton Hall, Martin encouraged Radice to take the job. It was then that pair began their journey coaching together.
“Coming in Jeanine was quiet but at the same time brought a lot of energy to the program and was super competitive,” Martin recalled. “And because I am super competitive, we worked well together right off the bat.”
When Martin and Radice started coaching at Seton Hall, both families developed a close relationship through attending games and cheering on the Pirates. After four years together at SHU, Martin was offered the head position at Delaware and asked Radice to come with her to help build the Blue Hens program.
With the desire for something different, Radice was up for the challenge and agreed to go to Delaware as an assistant coach. The families continued to stay close even at Delaware, acting as the team's support system from the beginning.
“When we struggled to attract a fan base, they were there cheering us on,” commented Martin.
While their coaching philosophy was the same in the sense of competiveness and the desire to win,
their approach to how they coach is different.
Radice believes that the intensity of coaching should be used more in practice while Martin is the opposite and becomes more intense in games. Despite their differences in style, the duo works well together.
“In practice it's my voice that you hear all the time but in games we flip flop and Tina's voice is heard,” Radice stated. “So we compliment each other in that way that we calm each other down in different situations.”
Of the 20 years coaching for Delaware, Martin and Radice will always remember the 2012-13 season when the Blue Hens reached the NCAA Sweet 16.
“Coaching Elena Delle Donne and those seven seniors was a really special time,” Martin mentioned.
But 
both also have their personal favorite year that they said was a defining moment in their coaching career.
For Radice, it was her third season at Delaware, when the team was recovering from back-to-back losing seasons.
“That was a gratifying year for me to see the team post two losing seasons, and then have players come in and work really hard and want to be good,” said Radice.
For Martin, it was the 2000-01 season when the team had won a conference title, then in the America East, for the first time in school history.
“I knew coming into Delaware they had never been to an NCAA tournament, so they had never experienced post season play,” Martin recollected. “When we won that first title, that will always stick out in my mind because that was the first step to gaining national respect for our program.”
Through everything that Martin and Radice have experienced and endured in their years of coaching together, what makes them so dynamic comes down to two things; their passion for coaching and love for the game.
