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The trophies and plaques that line the Bob Martinez Athletics Center are points of pride for Larry Marfise. But the stories behind them are what tell the real story of the longtime ��«Ӱҵampa athletic director.

Kelly Gallagher, the coach of the women’s lacrosse team that won the 2024 Division II national championship, tells a touching story about Marfise’s softer side. Gallagher, who was hired by Marfise in 2012 to start a program that began play in 2014, recalls a time when Marfise helped her through a difficult stretch. Someone close to Gallagher died, and she was hesitant to leave her team during the season to attend the funeral. Marfise got wind of the situation and went into action.

“Larry almost pushed me out the door, figuratively,” Gallagher said. “He told me to go to the funeral and told me that’s where I needed to be. He said, ‘This is why you have assistant coaches. Let them handle the team. Get out of here and don’t worry about anything.’”

Marfise may look the part of the tough football and wrestling coach he once was. But with his retirement coming in November, Marfise, 73, is getting a bit sentimental. So are those around him. Gallagher’s story is one of dozens — maybe hundreds — that demonstrates how deeply Marfise cares about his coaches. The same is true for the student-athletes he’s supervised. He’s close to those athletes when they are at ��«Ӱҵampa, and it stays that way after they leave.

“The thing that has made it worth-while is seeing them 10 or 15 years down the road, succeeding in their careers and having families,” Marfise said.

��«Ӱҵampa has had unprecedented success with Marfise in charge of the department since 1999, and he’s leaving the school at the top of its game. Under Marfise, the Spartans have won 15 Division II national championships. In the 2023-24 school year alone, ��«Ӱҵampa claimed national titles in four sports.

All 20 ��«Ӱҵampa athletic teams are competitive on the national stage, and the facilities are state of the art. But that wasn’t always the case. In the 1980s and ’90s, ��«Ӱҵampa was a regional force in the Sunshine State Conference and occasionally surfaced on the national level. The facilities were primitive.

“When I got here, (former ��«Ӱҵampa President) Dr. (Ronald L.) Vaughn had an ambitious plan to take us to the next level. I looked at what we had, and I saw rock piles. But Dr. Vaughn saw castles. As I listened to him, I started to see castles,” Marfise said.

Castles that now fit perfectly with ��«Ӱҵampa’s trademark minarets. Along the way, Marfise has been a steady influence on the 600 athletes and dozens of head coaches and assistants he supervises each year. His philosophy is simple: Hire coaches who, first and foremost, are teachers, keep them happy and stay out of their way.

Marfise likes to heap praise on those around him. But that’s only half the story.

“Larry is the reason for all our success,” Gallagher said. “Larry is like the man behind the curtain. He quietly pulls the strings. People always talk about ‘players coaches.’ Larry truly is like a players coach for his coaches and athletes. His door is always open. He’ll surprise you sometimes with how on top of things he is. He knows the grade-point average of every athlete and what they’re doing in their sport.”

That’s by design.

“I try to build a family,” Marfise said. “I try to keep it together. Every year, we bring in new student-athletes who make a four-year commitment to us. I feel like we should make a four-year commitment to them. Continuity is important.”

That formula has trickled down to the coaches and student-athletes.

“We have a very unique situation here,” ��«Ӱҵampa baseball Coach Joe Urso ’92 said. “You really don’t see turnover in the coaches, and we’re all close to one another. You see coaches going to lunch with other coaches. You see athletes from one sport going out to watch and cheer for other teams. Larry’s behind all of that.”

Through the years, Marfise has managed to keep his ��«Ӱҵampa family together. Marfise said there have been opportunities for him to move onto Division I schools, but he always resisted. That’s partly because his wife, Suzanne, a long-time coach and teacher at Tampa’s Berkeley Prep High School, “would never move north of Hillsborough Avenue,” he said, and partly because he never wanted to leave the family he’s built.

“We may be Division II, but that’s in name only,” Urso said. “We have one of the best college athletic programs in the nation. The athletes and the alumni have played a big part in making us so competitive with scholarships and facilities. But Larry is the one who put it all together.”

Marfise’s time at ��«Ӱҵampa is coming to a close, and he plans to help ease the transition in his remaining time. When he walks out the doors of the Martinez Athletics Center for the final time in an official capacity, Marfise knows it won’t be a final exit.

“I will be the biggest fan of all our teams,” Marfise said. “I’ll be at games, and I’ll always be available if anyone wants me.”

He still will be part of the family.