Putnam City West promotes Rocky Martin to football coach
Putnam City West didn’t look far to find its new head football coach.
The school promoted linebackers coach Rocky Martin to head coach on Friday to fill the void of John Jensen, who was removed from the position last month.
This will be the first head coaching job for Martin, who has an interesting resume.
His coaching career began at Cherry Creek (Colo.) High School, his alma mater, in 2002-03 then became an assistant at the University of Akron from 2004-07.
After that, he spent two seasons as an assistant at Irving Middle School in Norman before joining the PC West staff in 2010.
As a player for Colorado State, Martin went to four bowl games, starting on the 2000 squad that went to the Liberty Bowl and finished the season ranked 14th.
Like his predecessor, Martin plans to keep his players active in areas beyond the football field.
“We recognize that we are working with students first and athletes second. Our student-athletes will be held to the highest standards in the classroom and the community,” Martin said.
“I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life and excited to work in a new role with this great group of students. I’m ready to go.”
There will be an expectation of Martin to ultimately produce victories for the long-struggling football program. Jensen, who remains at the school as athletic director, was removed as head coach because principal Buster Meeks wanted the program to go “in a new direction,” despite a consistent growth in participation and support under Jensen. The Patriots have won three games in the last five seasons.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Twitter: @ScottWrightOK
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