Doug Martin accepts head football coach job at NMSU
New Mexico State Athletics Director Dr. McKinley Boston announced Friday afternoon that Doug Martin has accepted, in principle, an offer to become the 34th head football coach in New Mexico State history.
ABC-7 reported earlier this week that Martin, who was the interim coach , would be offered the job permanently.
The official announcement will be made at a press conference on Monday, February 4, at 9:00 a.m. in the Barbara Hubbard Room, located on the second floor of the Pan American Center Annex.
“Obviously with the resignation of Coach DeWayne Walker, we then engaged in a search process for a new head coach, interviewing four candidates including Doug Martin over the last few days. After that process the committee and I felt strongly that Doug would fit well as the Aggies’ next head coach,” Boston said. “Doug’s familiarity with Las Cruces, his desire to come back to Las Cruces, the overwhelming support of him as a candidate were all factors that went into the thought process. I’m very confident that Doug will provide great leadership in our effort to build a quality program as one that is defined as consistently bowl eligible. I look forward to working very closely with Doug to build a quality football program that we know everyone in Southern New Mexico, alumni across the state and the country would like to see. No one wants to see this program succeed anymore than I do.”
“I am thrilled for the opportunity and very appreciative that Dr. Boston and the administration have the confidence in me to move this program forward,” Martin said. “I think there is unlimited potential in this program and in this city and I look forward to building this football program to be part of the City of Las Cruces.”
Martin was named interim head coach back on January 24, after the departure of DeWayne Walker to the NFL. This is Martin’s second stint with the Aggies, as he was the Aggies’ offensive coordinator during the 2011 season.
Martin left NM State after the 2011 season to take the offensive coordinator position at Boston College in 2012. The Eagles ranked 47 th in the nation in passing offense, as Martin guided wide receiver Alex Amidon and offensive tackle Emmett Cleary to All-ACC honors. Amidon finished the season ranked 11th among all receivers in the country in receiving yards per game (100.8). He ranks second among all ACC receiving in both receptions per game (6.5) and receiving yards per game.
Martin was the offensive coordinator of the Aggies back in 2011, as the Aggies ranked 47 th in total offense and 26 th in passing offense. He helped guide the Aggies to a win over Minnesota, the program’s first win against a team from the Big Ten. Under Martin, the Aggies had three All-WAC selections in wide receiver Taveon Rogers, offensive tackle Davonte Wallace and running back Kenny Turner. Quarterback Matt Christian led the Aggies with 2,158 yards passing and 15 touchdowns in 2011.
With seven seasons under his belt as the head coach at Kent State University and eight as the offensive coordinator, Martin was instrumental in building a true football program of the past several seasons. A total of 20 Golden Flashes earned All-Mid-American Conference accolades from 2007-10, including Eugene Jarvis, who was atop the active Football Bowl Subdivision running backs list with 3,722 career yards on the ground, and Brian Lainhart, whose 17 career interceptions was also tops among active FBS players.
In 2010, Roosevelt Nix was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year under Martin’s watch. Also under Martin, four players were selected in the NFL draft including Jameson Konz (2010 – 7th round, Seattle Seahawks), Usama Young (2007 – 3rd round, New Orleans Saints), Jack Williams (2008 – 4th round, Denver Broncos) and Julian Edelman (2009 – 7th round, New England Patriots), with Young becoming the sixth-highest pick in the history of the program.
Over the past four years, Martin’s offense at Kent State recorded a remarkable 16,907 yards of total offense, averaging 422.6 yards per game during that spanned including 26.3 points a game.
In December of 2006, Martin signed a four-year extension that kept him in Blue and Gold through 2010. The extension rewarded a 2006 campaign that saw Kent State pull off the fourth-largest turnaround in the nation, improving by five wins over the previous year’s total.
Included in the performance was a five-game winning streak, including four straight MAC victories – the Flashes’ longest conference streak ever. Furthermore, the nation’s 25 th -ranked team in total defense in 2006, limited Miami and Bowling Green to a combined 17 points as Kent State won road games against the RedHawks and Falcons in the same season for the first time since 1972. Kent State saw five players earn All-MAC accolades.
In addition to his head coaching duties, Martin also served as quarterbacks coach and was the offensive coordinator for all but the 2009 season.
Martin is widely regarded as one of the nation’s premier quarterback mentors. His list of protgs includes three-time All-Conference USA selection and current NFL passer David Garrard, record-setting CFL quarterback Marcus Crandell and other pros Richard Alston and Joshua Cribbs, who both played quarterback in college under Martin before switching positions in the NFL.
In 2005, Martin’s spread passing attack posted the third-highest yardage total in school history while the team’s 15 touchdown passes were the sixth most in a single year at Kent State. The Flashes also reached the 30-point mark three times in 2005, running the total number of games with at least that many points to 16 since 2003.
In Martin’s first season, the Golden Flashes posted a 5-6 overall record, winning their final four games for the program’s longest winning streak since 1976. The team also finished in fourth place in the MAC East Division with a 4-4 mark while producing three All-MAC players and two honorable mention All-Americans.
Martin also handled the offensive play-calling duties and the unit responded to his coaching, scoring 335 points and racking up 4,168 yards, the second- and third-highest totals, respectively, in school history.
Under his guidance, the Flashes averaged 30.5 points per game, just the third time in school history a team averaged 30 or more points. The team also set a single-game scoring mark in its 69-17 win over Eastern Michigan Nov. 13. Four times in 2004 the Flashes totaled more than 400 yards on offense, including two games over 500.
Additionally, in two years tutoring All-MAC quarterback Joshua Cribbs, Martin saw Cribbs develop into one of the top dual threats in the country. Always a talented runner, Cribbs finished his career as the owner of KSU career records for total offense, passing yardage, touchdowns, points and completions. He also ranked fourth nationally in total offense and completed a school-record 64.5 percent of his passes. As a team, the Flashes had a completion rate of 62.8 percent, also a school record.
While his spread offensive style is his calling card, Martin revamped his defensive coaching staff and saw that unit go from ranking 12th of 14 teams in the MAC in total defense in 2003 to first in the league in 2004. It marked the first time since 1987 that the team led the MAC in total defense and just the second time since joining the conference in 1951. Kent State also ranked 15th nationally in total defense.
Martin was named the school’s 19th head coach on March 1, 2004, replacing Dean Pees. Martin joined the Kent State staff in January 2003 as offensive coordinator. After just one year on the staff, Martin made an instant impact on the Golden Flashes’ offense.In its first season under Martin’s system, Kent State averaged 26.8 points per game, the second-highest in the last 30 years, and scored 30-or-more points in each of the final six games and did so in a school-record eight games overall.
From 2002-04 Martin’s teams averaged nearly 30 points per game and posted the highest offensive totals in back-to-back years in school history.. From 2002-03 alone, scoring offense increased by 10 points, touchdowns grew from 24 to 40, total offense was up by more than 40 yards per game and passing yardage increased by nearly 100 yards per game..
In 2004, that trend continued as the Flashes’ increased their scoring, touchdowns, passing yards and total yards per game.
Martin arrived at Kent State following 11 seasons at East Carolina University, the last seven of which he was in charge of the team’s offense. He was at ECU for all of Steve Logan’s tenure there, serving as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for two seasons (1992-93), then another two years as wide receivers coach (1994-95) before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 1996.
At East Carolina, Martin played a significant role in the development of quarterback David Garrard, who broke 28 school passing records and total offensive records from 1998-01. In addition, Martin coached the top three receivers in ECU history. During Martin’s time at ECU, the team advanced to five bowl games; the Liberty Bowl in 1994 and 1995, the GMAC (formerly Mobile Alabama) Bowl in 1999 and 2001 and the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in 2000.
Prior to joining the staff at East Carolina, Martin was a graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky, his alma mater, from 1986-87 and then spent the 1988-91 seasons at East Tennessee State University, where he coached the running backs his first year, then served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks/wide receivers coach his final three seasons.
Martin was a four-year letterwinner at Kentucky from 1981-84, spending time as a part-time starter at quarterback before injuries limited him to the holder role. A native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Kentucky in 1985.
Martin and his wife Vicki have a daughter, Molly, and two sons, Cory and Bobby.
The Martin File
Full Name: Doug Martin
Birthdate: Feb. 4, 1963
Wife: Vicki
Children: Molly, Cory and Bobby
Education
University of Kentucky, 1985
B.S. History
Coaching Experience
Boston College, 2012 (Offensive Coordinator)
New Mexico State, 2011 (Offensive Coordinator)
Kent State, 2004-10 (Head Coach)
East Carolina, 1996-02 (Offensive Coordinator)
East Carolina, 1992-02 (assistant Coach)
East Tennessee State, 1989-91 (Offensive Coordinator)
East Tennessee State, 1988 (Assistant Coach)
University of Kentucky, 1986-87 (Graduate Assistant)
Bowl Experience
1984 – Hall of Fame Bowl (Kentucky)
1994 – St. Jude Liberty Bowl (ECU)
1995 – St. Jude Liberty Bowl (ECU)
1999 – Mobile Alabama Bowl (ECU)
2000 – GalleryFurniture.com (ECU)
2001 – GMAC Bowl (ECU)
