New QB Coach Kirk Martin (TX)

[AlaskaSUfan]

Considering Martin is a Texas lifer, Dino's in-law and has never coached on the college level, this strikes me as the type of move a head coach makes if he plans on sticking around for a while.

My first thought also

 

[Cuseman78]

The only risk I see is that he's been a really successful high school football coach in TX for 20 years. Now that his kids are grown up and a great opportunity has presented itself, he's making the transition to the college level, way the hell away in Upstate NY.
I'm completely happy with him at Syracuse. He seems like he's going to be an awesome coach to Syracuse's QBs.

I just wonder if the transition is going to be more difficult for him, considering he's older, he's always lived in TX, he's always been a high school coach.
Just speculating that it might be a complicated transition.

Agree with this normally but definitely can't hurt that he's Babers' daughters' Father in law. Maybe they're all moving up together?

 

[orangeinohio]

Agree with this normally but definitely can't hurt that he's Babers' daughters' Father in law. Maybe they're all moving up together?

That's a helluva reality tv show right there.

 

[Louie and Bouie]

Risk is if he doesn't produce Texas recruits then it may be a bad hire as a paid staff positions/recruiters are limited. Seemingly, his only current contacts would be in Texas so that will be his area. Imo, it only pays off if he can get Texas players.

If the hire wasn't related to Babers there is no way this happens imo.

QB coach in and of itself isn't a make or break staffing position. The paid slot to fill with a recruiter is more important unless you have a QB guru.

 

[Franz69]

Here’s how the country’s 365 blue-chip recruits are distributed in the class of 2018:

All 50 states and D.C., ranked by 2018 blue-chip recruits
State Blue-Chips National Share
Florida 65 17.8%
California 48 13.2%
Texas 44 12.1%

Ranking 50 states by 2018 blue-chip CFB recruits

The best blue-chip talent states from 2013-18
State Blue-Chips, '13-'18 National Share
Florida 292 14.4%
Texas 273 13.5%

 

[TheCusian]

Risk is if he doesn't produce Texas recruits then it may be a bad hire as a paid staff positions/recruiters are limited. Seemingly, his only current contacts would be in Texas so that will be his area. Imo, it only pays off if he can get Texas players.

If the hire wasn't related to Babers there is no way this happens imo.

QB coach in and of itself isn't a make or break staffing position. The paid slot to fill with a recruiter is more important unless you have a QB guru.

Little too black and white.

Dino needs guys who understand the system to be effective coaches. RB/WR coaches are your recruiters. QB is a position that Dino puts a lot on (more than most systems) and needs a teacher.

I don’t think he’ll have a problem getting TX kids. We already got two big gets without a respected TX guy on staff. TX is like FL - we can take the B guys from there and develop them.

I’d say the biggest risk is being the boss of his daughter’s new husbands Dad lol

 

[CuseLegacy]

Only concern or possible counter to that, (which I hope is not true) is that this is a budgetary move. Perhaps the money wasn’t there to poach a P5 guy or recruiting ace so he went with a geographical hire who also is a family member? Hope that isn’t the case

 

[CuseLegacy]

I dont get the High Risk either.. What system did they run and what kind of QBs did they create, thats the risk factor.

last few QBs they have had.. they score a ton of pts and had a bunch of DIv 1 kids

2017 went to N. texas
2016 to Florida
2016 went to Houston
2013 old dominion
2012 the Citidel
2011 n. mex st

 

[PhatOrange]

I love this hire. It’s out of the box which is so refreshing.

People looking at recruiting or budget are being short sighted. First it’s a QB coach not an OC. We have an OC. He’s a guy who knows Babers so they’ll mesh, knows the system and knows the Briles concepts. This is no newbie. 5 D1 quarterbacks. 108-25, two state title games? The guy knows what he’s doing. Briles himself came from the Texas HS ranks. I love this hire.

We kicked around the idea of hiring a Florida HS coach. This guy is way more qualified a coach than anyone in Florida would be.

 

[PhatOrange]

He’s sending 5 kids to P5 this year.

1 to Pedo State
3 to Texas A&M
1 to Missouri

 

[Orangepace]

2017 Texan Live Head Coach of the Year. Solid background and great hire!

 

[Cusefan69]

Love the out of the box thinking, agree Phat. The potential nice upside for recruiting the region but not sure I love the family connection piece. Both sides will always say “yeah its all good” but at some point it doesn’t go good and then you have as dino both a work place and homefront problem. Here’s to hoping there is some serious “Princess Bride” action between his daughter and this guys son.

 

[Orijinal]

Maybe he can help this offense score some points!

 

[supp]

2017 Texan Live Head Coach of the Year. Solid background and great hire!

Nice video. He coaches the QBs. First, that means he's probably got a full-fledged assistant coaching staff, which is a little batty. Playing the game is expensive and then you have a thousand assistants on the sideline. They're just p!ssing money away down in Texas. Second I like upperdeck's post more now. I'm more excited about his coaching than I am his recruiting. This guy has coached up what, 5 QBs to D-1 scholarships in 5 years?

 

[sutomcat]

Good article on him. Welcome to Syracuse coach!

http://vype.com/houston/2017/12/19/...ney-from-quitaque-to-state-championship-game/

 

[BillSU]

I love this hire. It’s out of the box which is so refreshing.

People looking at recruiting or budget are being short sighted. First it’s a QB coach not an OC. We have an OC. He’s a guy who knows Babers so they’ll mesh, knows the system and knows the Briles concepts. This is no newbie. 5 D1 quarterbacks. 108-25, two state title games? The guy knows what he’s doing. Briles himself came from the Texas HS ranks. I love this hire.

We kicked around the idea of hiring a Florida HS coach. This guy is way more qualified a coach than anyone in Florida would be.

More to love about hiring Martin:

Name Kirk Martin

Email kmartin@alvinisd.net

University Alma Mater UTEP


About Me



Head Football Coach/Assistant Athletic Director



Kirk Martin is the Manvel Mavericks’ head football coach and an assistant athletic director for Alvin ISD. Coach Martin was raised in Quitaque, a small west Texas town. He played football, basketball and ran track at Valley High School, where he was named to the all-state football and all-South Plains basketball teams. Coach Martin played tight end and was a four-year letterman at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received a Masters in Education Administration from Sul Ross State University. He is beginning his 20th year coaching and has enjoyed stints at El Paso Cathedral, EP Riverside, Alvin, Odessa Permian, Giddings and Alpine before opening Manvel High School in 2006. Coach Martin is married to Caren, a pre-K teacher at Mary Marek Elementary. They have three children: Koda Kirk (16), a junior football player at MHS; Cory Jo (15), a sophomore volleyball player at Manvel HS; and Kason James (13), a seventh grade football player at Nolan Ryan Jr High. Coach Martin and family attends New Hope Church where they work in the food service ministry. In his free time, Coach Martin enjoys watching college football, playing golf, and visiting family in Lubbock and Ruidoso.



BREAKING: Kirk Martin leaving Manvel for college coaching job

By Josh Koch on January 30, 2018 4:15 pm

HOUSTON – After 10 seasons as the head coach at Manvel High School, including a pair of State Championship game appearances, Kirk Martin is heading to the college coaching ranks.

Martin confirmed to VYPE on Tuesday afternoon he is indeed leaving the program he built from the ground up to coach quarterbacks at a Power 5 college football program.

Due to where Martin is in the hiring process for his new job he could not report which program he is being hired to.

In his time at Manvel, Martin finished with a record of 108-25. The final eight seasons leading the Mavericks, Martin guided the team to 10 or more wins each year.

Manvel under Martin’s guidance made the state championship game in 2011 and 2017, falling to Aledo and Highland Park, respectively in both.

While at Manvel, Martin had his sons Koda Martin (Texas A&M), London Harris (Texas State) and Kason Martin (North Texas) all play for him.

Martin exits coaching Texas high school football with an overall record of 115-39. The only other program Martin led was Alpine.

With the Manvel job opening now, the Houston-area has a flurry of high-profile jobs available including The Woodlands, George Ranch and now Manvel. Other openings include Clear Brook and Summer Creek among many others.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

With just over a week until National Signing Day, the Syracuse Orange football program has potentially filled out its coaching staff for 2018.

According to CuseNation.com, Manvel (Tex.) High School head coach Kirk Martin will join the Orange staff as a quarterbacks coach. Martin has led Manvel (located south of Houston) for 10 straight years now. The team went 14-1 in 2017, with their lone loss in the state championship. He was 108-25 during his time at Manvel.

While it’s potentially apropos of nothing, Martin is also the father of Dino Babers’s son-in-law Koda (who plays football at Texas A&M). So while hiring a high school coach who’s also the father of your son-in-law screams nepotism on some fronts, this is also college football. Nepotism is sort of the way of the game.

And removing nepotism from the conversation, Martin has been very successful at Manvel and has experience coaching in Texas — where spread and Air Raid-style offenses are prevalent — is probably an advantageous move for Syracuse from a QB development standpoint. As you may recall, Orange early enrollee Chance Amie is a product of Tyler, Tex. Inbound linebacker Tre Allison is as well.

Though admittedly, we were hoping to swing for the fences a bit on the QB coach hire after Sean Lewis’s departure, this is far from a miss by any means. Martin’s had success in an area where we’d benefit from recruiting more. He’s also coached up numerous future P5 players. Several players from this year’s team are headed to Texas A&M, and others are going to Missouri and Penn State. His other son, Kason, will play for North Texas after throwing for over 3,000 yards and 39 touchdowns as a senior.

And while the gut reaction is to think that we skimped on this hire and Mike Cavanaugh, Hoya Suxa points out that Martin made over six figures at Manvel. So perhaps we have more money to play with than we realize?

But what do we think? Figure there’s going to be a mix of reactions here, and both are understandable. High school hires (especially from Texas) are becoming more common at the FBS level, and for us, bringing in someone from Texas is key to getting more players that fit this system immediately. The nepotism note is a factor, sure. But if you take that out, Martin still has the chops to get a DI nod. He’ll get put to the test immediately, too, coaching up talents like Eric Dungey and Tommy DeVito at Syracuse.



Some additional info:

His son, Kason Martin, a senior at Manvel had these stats in 2017:

GP – 15

C – 185

ATT – 311

YDS – 3,333

YD/G – 222.2

TD – 42

TD/G – 2.8

INT – 5


The average salary of a high school football coach in Texas is $98,668.

The top ten in 5A and 6A range from $124,500 - $155,156 (Henry Carter of Austin Lake).

IMHO, great hire and the start of the Syracuse, N.Y., Houston, Texas area pipeline.

 

[orangepassion]

Seems like a quality coach, but I was hoping one of our 2 new assistants would be a Troy Weaver-type

 

[bnoro]

Seems like a quality coach, but I was hoping one of our 2 new assistants would be a Troy Weaver-type

Nick Monroe is already that guy. I'm already pretty bullish on our recruiting staff based on what I've seen the last two years. No reason to think these two can't do a great job on the trail

 

[zjscuse]

(haven't posted in a while but check the board literally every single day) This is a homerun hire in my eyes, I would much rather take a highly successful well regarded HC from Texas versus a middling C usa Sun belt or d 2, d 3 guy. Heck, his high school team probably could beat or at least compete with most of those teams texas football is religion. He's already proven he can put Most of his qbs to the d 1 level and Dino has proven he can convince guys from Texas to give su a shot. as someone on nunes stated this is still a top story on Houston chronicles local sports web page. Looking at the scores from last years playoff run they definatly put up some serious points running a similar offense. Whats not to like? I get the whole father in law thing but honestly, a guy from Texas as successful as he is, would not be looking at a school way up north like us unless there was some special connection.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

First Dino accepted him into the family, now he's bringing him in to the cult.

Fearless prediction - Martin will be a college head coach within 5 years.

 

[Orangepace]

Fearless prediction - Martin will be a college head coach within 5 years.

Aggressive on the prediction here. That said, for this to play out, SU would have to be in very very good shape at that point. So I can get behind this!

 

[BKCuse]

This is a Harbaugh type move, savvy and aggressive.

Love that Texas is now a focus for recruiting. I Gotta believe there is a specific kid or 2 they have in mind for Martin to deliver. Either flipping one of those A&M commits or '19 '20 Manvel kids

Dino is such a Boss!

 

[skurey]

My biggest takeaway is high school football coaches make way too much money in Texas.

 

[texacuse]

My biggest takeaway is high school football coaches make way too much money in Texas.

The business of Texas high school football is far, far more profitable and carries more weight of community inspiration, visibility and espirit de corps than most other medium or small business enterprises here in Texas or in many other states.

The Manvel ISD football program or probably any other Class 5A or 6A Texas football program would arguably all by itself fund the athletic departments of all the OHSL large high school sport budgets combined.

As an Associate AD and long term head coach of a largely visible and successful Houston metro area high school ‘enterprise’, I can assure you that this man not only carried a great weight of responsibility in a very public fishbowl where his every move was heavily scrutinized, but I am very certain that the Manvel football program would agree that Coach Martin was worth every penny and probably underpaid down here, especially given the respect of his name and the success of his tenure.

If the Texas high school football programs were a public dividend stock they would be among the most widely held, profitable and endearing companies to hold down here. The money paid to the coaches is almost an afterthought. Many people in Texas love their local football than the Cowboys, the Texans or even (gasp) the mighty SEC.

The culture and dynamic is an amazing paradigm shift from where I grew up between the JD and WG areas in Onondaga County. I can appreciate the way people think in Texas, but I still would not trade my love for CNY and my hometown culture. It is just that a talented and organized football coach and teacher would carry more weight as a career alternative than I would ever have believed growing up in CNY.

In conclusion and without a whisper of reservation, I can assure all our fans that we are very fortunate to have a coach of this magnitude come to Syracuse. Of course while there may be some recruiting rules to be more familiar with from the college level, I am certain that the scale of going from Texas high school football to the P5 and the ACC is NOT at all intimidating to him and in many ways much easier going from an AD/coach responsibility in Manvel ISD to a position coach at Syracuse University Football.

Dino believes in ‘Orange is the New Fast’ and loves our school so much that he obviously does not hesitate to bring his family along for the ride with his new family at Syracuse. I would expect that Mr. Martin will do great work for us both in recruiting Texas and coaching our team. He brings massive credibility with him from Texas. I am so glad that Mr. Martin has received the Orange vision for our future and believed Coach Babers good report!

 

[bigmike]

Solid hire for a lot of reasons. I wonder what his thoughts are going to be about CNY barbeque. His unofficial thoughts, of course.