From the Record, Fall 2023
By Alexandra Evans
On November 4, 24-year Head Football Coach Marty Favret’s final home game ended in classic Martyball fashion: a onepoint, blocked PAT overtime thriller against Shenandoah University that sent droves of students cascading onto Fulton Field to hoist a triumphant Coach high in the air.
Nail-biting has become synonymous with Marty Favret’s tenure—a tenure that began in 2000 when Favret arrived on the Hill after six years as offensive coordinator at his alma mater Catholic University. The Tigers went 1-9 in 1999, finishing last in the ODAC and averaging just 9.8 points a game. In his first season at the helm, Favret led H-SC Football to a 4-6 record, equaling the win total of the previous three seasons combined. That was just the beginning.
Over the next 23 years, Favret became the winningest coach in College history amassing 151 wins, five ODAC championships, and six NCAA DIII playoff appearances. He coached this year as the longest-tenured coach in Virginia.
At the retirement celebration immediately following his final home game, a choked-up Coach Favret summed up 24 years as head coach in just 2 minutes and 40 seconds. And that’s all he needed to move many to tears. After thanking the friends, family, and H-SC community members who traveled from all across the country to cheer on the Tigers and join the celebration held in Snyder Hall, Coach Favret reminisced on a conversation he had with General Sam Wilson shortly after Favret arrived on the Hill.
“He called me up to his office after I was hired,” Favret recalled, “and he said, ‘Marty I want to ask you to do something. I want you to bring smiles back to Hampden- Sydney on Saturdays in the fall. And I hope I’ve been able to do that.”
In addition to the smiles, Coach Favret leaves behind two legacies: One is made of trophies, titles, accolades, pennants, and championship rings. The other is intangible, yet arguably more enduring, and that’s the impact he’s had on the thousands of men he’s coached across more than two decades.
“What makes small liberal arts schools so special are the people who come here and make them their lives’ work,” President Larry Stimpert noted at the retirement ceremony. “Today, we honor someone who truly made this place his life’s work. I’ve watched Marty at recruiting events, and while it’s clear he’s all about having a winning football team, what he’s truly most proud of is the success of our students and the way they’re prepared over their four years for life after Hampden-Sydney.”
Congratulations on two-and-a-half decades of success on the field and many more decades of lasting impact off the field, Coach. And from the Hampden-Sydney family yesterday, today, and always: Roll, Tigers!