Miami (OH) inks its head coach for five more years after two MAC championships since 2019.
The past 10 years in Oxford, OH can be defined by the word “stability.” For an entire decade, the Miami (OH) RedHawks’ sideline has been piloted by one man rocking a signature sweater vest — a sweater vest which has since become associated with conference championships and a prosperous era of RedHawk football.
The show has already been in town for 10 years, and now it rolls on for another five.
Miami (OH) head coach Chuck Martin agreed to a 5-year contract extension Thursday, securing his place in Oxford through the 2029 season. This extension comes after a standout 2023 campaign where the RedHawks tied their second winningest season in program history with an 11-3 record, complemented by a MAC Championship Game victory over Toledo in December.
Martin is now a two-time MAC champion, winning the event in 2019 and 2023. He has coached five bowl games in the past eight seasons and won one in 2021, all while finishing .500 and above in MAC play each year since 2016.
“I am proud of the accomplishments and growth of Miami football under the leadership of Coach Martin,” athletic director David Sayler said in a statement. “He has gotten our program back to being at the top of the Mid-American Conference multiple times and I look forward to him and his staff building upon what was a historic season last year for the RedHawks. Our future is bright and the Miami Football program truly embodies our mission of Graduating Champions.”
Chuck Martin is in rarefied air when it comes to MAC head coaches. Oftentimes, coaches in this conference are either ousted for failing to meet expectations or poached by other programs for successfully meeting expectations. But Martin is in an exclusive club, along with former Ohio head coach Frank Solich and current Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton, to enjoy decade-long residence in the MAC.
Here’s how he got here:
Martin’s beginnings
Martin spent four seasons as an assistant at Notre Dame, initially working as a defensive assistant in 2010 and 2011 before making the unorthodox move to offensive coordinator in 2012. The longtime small school coach (who won two national championships at Division II Grand Valley State) garnered plenty of attention during his first year as Notre Dame’s OC, as the Fighting Irish qualified for the BCS National Championship Game with a 12-0 record before falling to Alabama. Martin returned to the role for the 2013, and prior to the conclusion of Notre Dame’s season on Dec. 3, he accepted the head coaching position at Miami.
Miami was only three years removed from a MAC championship when Martin arrived, but the trajectory of the program rapidly veered south in the early 2010s. The RedHawks posted consecutive 4-8 records in 2011 and 2012 before hitting rock bottom in 2013 with an imperfect 0-12 season.
As suggested by the value in the win column, it was Martin’s task to rebuild a program starting from absolute zero.
2014
The 2014 season at Miami was about setting a culture and finagling out of the mess of an 0-12 season. The RedHawks finished 2-10, but demonstrated stark improvements across the board under their new coach. Martin brought Notre Dame transfer quarterback Andrew Hendrix who completely revamped the passing attack. The defense also got a spark from a member of the basketball team in cornerback Quinten Rollins, who picked off seven passes in his first and only year of college football, earning MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Despite the clear uptick in roster talent, Miami still finished near the MAC’s basement. But in 2013, the team lost every game by an average of 26 points. Comparatively in Martin’s inaugural 2014 season, Miami notched five one-possession losses, demonstrating obvious signs of initial progress.
2015
Martin’s rebuild effort did not come to fruition in year two. Although Miami improved by one win with a 3-9 finish, the team arguably regressed from the prior year iteration. The RedHawks were largely non-competitive against the bowl eligible echelon of the MAC, earning wins over bottom-feeders Eastern Michigan and UMass to go along with their season-opening FCS win.
The conclusion of the 2015 season solidified the first 5-year stretch in Miami history where the team failed to attain one 6-win season. But in this era of futility, better days were on the horizon.
2016
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Martin’s 2016 season at Miami was historic. The program accomplished a feat which had never been done in college football history, and to this day, has not been accomplished since. Miami couldn’t have scripted a worse start to the year, dropping six consecutive contests — including its FCS matchup — to manufacture a grueling 0-6 record. But like many great 3-point shooters in a slump, all Martin and the RedHawks needed to see was one go in.
Miami collected its first victory Oct. 15 over Kent State. Then the RedHawks won the next week. And then the next. And then the next. And then the next. And then on Nov. 22, under the Tuesday night lights at Yager Stadium, history was completed. Miami defeated Ball State, 21-20, becoming the first college football team to turn an 0-6 start into a 6-6 regular season finish. The RedHawks punched their bowl eligibility ticket, but dropped a heartbreaker to Mississippi State in the St. Petersburg Bowl — one blocked 37-yard field goal away from the impossible feat of turning 0-6 into a winning record.
2017
Unfortunately for Miami, the concept of slow starts plagued them again in 2017. Martin’s team stumbled to a 2-5 record with its bowl hopes nearing life support at the season’s midway point. Led by a stout defense featuring the likes of Doug Costin, Brad Koenig, and Heath Harding, the RedHawks nearly orchestrated another turnaround to bowl eligibility. Miami emerged victorious in three of its last five, taking out several bowl eligible teams during a late-year surge to finish 5-7.
Even though the RedHawks reverted to sub-.500 territory, Miami stood beside its head coach, hoping to make a triumphant return to the postseason soon. To this day and excluding the abbreviated 2020 pandemic season, this is Martin’s most recent season finishing under six wins.
2018
Miami entered the 2018 season with a solid foundation, as the ever-efficient Gus Ragland — the quarterback who captained the historic 2016 turnaround — returned for his third season as the primary starter. Combined with a veteran defense, the RedHawks were ready to contend for a MAC title. While Miami compiled an 0-4 mark against a difficult non-conference slate, the team showed tremendous poise against league competition. Martin finished 6-2 in MAC play, narrowly losing shootouts to Western Michigan and Buffalo, while generating quality wins over eventual MAC champion Northern Illinois and a respectable 9-4 Ohio team.
Despite winning all three November matchups and riding a tremendous wave of momentum into December, the 6-6 RedHawks were one of four bowl eligible teams snubbed from the postseason. So unfortunately for Martin and Co., the evident progress did not reap its reward… at least not in 2018.
2019
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Miami battled perhaps the most difficult non-conference schedule in the country in 2019, taking road trips to Ohio State, Iowa, and Cincinnati, which finished No. 3, No. 15, and No. 21 in the final AP Poll, respectively. That impossible slate handed the RedHawks a 1-3 record, but facing such challenging competition wound up being a blessing for Martin’s team upon the arrival of conference play. Just like 2018, Miami assembled a 6-2 record against MAC competition, regularly emerging in his close games with excellent execution down the stretch.
The reward waiting at the end? An invite to the 2019 MAC Championship Game, where the RedHawks were touchdown underdogs to Central Michigan. But at Ford Field in Detroit, true freshman quarterback Brett Gabbert established a reliable connection to Jack Sorenson to pierce through the Chippewa defense, while the Miami defense asserted its dominance with five sacks and the game’s lone interception. With a 26-21 victory, Martin claimed his first MAC title and the program’s first since 2010. The RedHawks were invited to the LendingTree Bowl to also chase its first bowl win since 2010, but Louisiana held the upper hand in a 27-17 result.
2020
In an unpredictable course of events for college football, the COVID-19 pandemic transpired, which created the most chaotic season of all-time in 2020. In August, the MAC became the first conference to entirely scrap its season, but after other conferences reversed their initial decisions to cancel the season, the MAC followed suit. The conference then issued a 6-game schedule for all 12 member institutions, but some of those games were still subject to cancellation.
Nobody in the MAC was hit harder by cancellations than Miami. The RedHawks played just three of their six scheduled games in 2020 — the fewest of any participating team in the FBS that season. They still finished above .500 at 2-1, stunning eventual MAC champion Ball State during the conference’s opening week. Two of Miami’s three contests were against teams that finished ranked in the final AP Poll (No. 23 Ball State and No. 25 Buffalo), but not many conclusions were drawn from an unprecedented season which featured a diminutive sample size.
2021
A sense of normalcy returned to the sport in 2021, and Martin was ready to resume where he left off in 2019 as holder of the conference crown. His RedHawks had plenty of veteran talent on the roster, including more polished versions of Brett Gabbert and Jack Sorenson, as well as rising star Ivan Pace Jr. — who tied the all-time FBS record for most single-game sacks in 2019. But once again, it was a tale of two seasons for the RedHawks. They started 1-3 after a brutal non-conference showing, but quickly bounced back to win five of its next seven.
Everything perfectly unfolded to set the stage for the MAC game of the year — Miami at Kent State on Nov. 27 for the right to advance to Detroit for the MAC Championship Game. The high-stakes game exceeded the hype, entering overtime deadlocked at 41 after a thrilling shootout. Kent State quickly scored a touchdown in overtime to gain advantage, but Miami struck second and wanted more. On the game-winning two-point attempt, Gabbert’s pass was deflected by Kent State’s Montre Miller, setting the RedHawks back to 6-6 and barricading them from Detroit. However, Miami didn’t linger on the loss too long with a critical bowl game looming.
One month later, Martin finally claimed that coveted bowl win — his first as head coach and the program’s first since 2010 — as Miami edged North Texas, 27-14, in the Frisco Football Classic (a one-time bowl game created for the 2021 season).
2022
Martin now operated with one of the most loaded résumés in the MAC, attaining both a conference championship and bowl victory during his tenure as head coach. With palpable momentum favoring the RedHawks, Martin looked to expand his success in Oxford. However, roadblocks struck in the opener at Kentucky when Gabbert and starting left tackle Sam Vaughan both exited with long-term injuries. Gabbert eventually returned in October, but his season was limited to four games, so Miami needed to sustain its winning ways with backup Aveon Smith.
Working with a quarterback with a different skillset, Martin restructured Miami’s plan of attack offensively, yet he still found ways to win. Under Smith, the RedHawks notably defeated Northwestern in Week 4, claiming their first Big Ten win since 2003 and first regular season non-conference FBS win since 2011. Led by Ryan McWood, Matthew Salopek, and stellar defense, Miami finished 6-7. The RedHawks were painfully close to stringing together its fourth-straight winning season, but in a mirror image of Super Bowl XXXIV, they fell two yards short of the goal line vs. UAB on the final play of the Bahamas Bowl.
2023
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In 2023, Martin returned his starting quarterback Gabbert for a fifth season and acquired impressive skill position talent like Rashad Amos and Gage Larvadain through the transfer portal. Also, he retained a well-rounded, veteran defense which would finish eighth in points allowed per game at 15.9. It was clear 2023 had potential to be Martin’s best season yet.
After dropping the opener to Miami (FL), the RedHawks posted six consecutive wins to rapidly attain bowl eligibility and set the tone as surefire MAC contenders. But in a critical midseason contest vs. Toledo, Gabbert suffered a season-ending leg injury. Toledo won the game, but the RedHawks weren’t ready to punt on the season. With an experienced backup in Smith leading the charge, Miami won its next four to qualify for its first MAC Championship Game since 2019. All that stood between Martin and another conference title was Toledo — the lone team Miami failed to upend in conference play. But this time, the RedHawk defense left its fingerprints all over the game, stifling Toledo in a 23-14 rock fight in Detroit.
Martin became the seventh head coach to win multiple MAC Championship Games, and he is one of two active coaches to hold that designation, along with Toledo’s Jason Candle.
However, the RedHawks did not sweeten the pot with a 12th victory, as they fell 13-9 to Appalachian State in the Cure Bowl in monsoon-like conditions. Still, Miami finished 11-3 and Martin tied the second-winningest season in program history with 11 wins. Since his coaching debut in 2014, only five distinguished MAC teams have obtained 11 wins — 2014 Northern Illinois, 2016 Western Michigan, 2017 Toledo, 2023 Toledo, and 2023 Miami.
What’s next
Martin’s RedHawks enter 2024 as the protector of the conference throne. The MAC landscape has shifted significantly as the conference scrapped divisions in favor of pods, so Miami now competes with former MAC East and MAC West teams alike for placement in the annual title game.
Martin, tied with Eastern Michigan’s Chris Creighton as the league’s longest-tenured coach, enters his 11th season with a sense of security through 2029. With another triumph in Detroit, Martin can become the second coach in MAC history to win the conference championship game at least three times, joining former Marshall head coach Bob Pruett, who claimed five titles between 1997 and 2002.
Another feat Martin looks to attain moving forward is earning his first spot in the AP Poll. The RedHawks have not held a ranking once since finishing No. 10 in the country in 2003, but the team flirted with the polls last year, earning a season-high 31 votes prior to bowl season — good for 30th in the FBS.
With two conference championships, one bowl victory, and seemingly annual trips to the postseason, the Miami of today looks strikingly different from the one Martin inherited when he first arrived in 2013. Now that he is extended through 2029, who knows what the next six years hold in store for one of the most accomplished MAC coaches of the 21st century?