Miami (OH) hires Notre Dame offensive coordinator Martin as head coach
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin was hired Tuesday as the head coach at Miami of Ohio, which is coming off one of the worst seasons in its history.
Martin succeeds Don Treadwell, who was fired after the RedHawks lost their first five games this season. Treadwell went 8-21 at his alma mater. Offensive coordinator Mike Bath finished the season as interim coach.
The RedHawks lost to Ball State 55-14 last Friday, finishing the season 0-12. It was the first time since 1988 that they failed to win a game and only the fourth time since 1900.
Miami is known as the "cradle of coaches," but hasn't been able to find one to pull it out of a recent slide. The RedHawks have won two or fewer games four times since 2006.
Although Martin has no direct ties to Miami's coaching tradition, the school has one notable link with Notre Dame. Ara Parseghian coached at Miami, Northwestern and Notre Dame, where he led the Fighting Irish to national titles in 1964 and 1974. A statue of Parseghian was added to the Cradle of Coaches Plaza outside Yager Stadium in Oxford in 2011.
Martin was a safety at Millikin. He started his coaching career in Ohio as an assistant at Wittenberg University in nearby Springfield.
Martin helped Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly develop Grand Valley State into a Division II powerhouse. He took over as head coach for six seasons after Kelly left.
He was reunited with Kelly at Notre Dame and served as defensive secondary coach before moving into the role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.