Why Chuck Martin took a pay cut to coach one of college football's worst programs

DETROIT – Chuck Martin knew how many people thought he was crazy because they kept telling him to his face. This included his closest friends.

He was one of college football's hottest coaching prospects last December when he decided to leave the prestige and security of being offensive coordinator at Notre Dame to take over the worst team in the sport. And for the effort, he'd enjoy a $200,000 pay cut.

Yet exactly what awaited him at Miami of Ohio didn't fully hit until he pored over the details of a team on a lengthy bowl drought and a 16-game losing streak, including, naturally, a fruitless 0-12 campaign in 2013.

"The one stat that really got me was when I asked, 'Well, who led us in touchdowns last season?'" Martin recalled Wednesday at Mid-American Conference media day.

"'And they said, 'Dawan Scott.'

"And I said, 'Well, how many did he have?'

"And they said, 'two.'

"I said, 'No, no, no, who led our team in touchdowns?" Martin said as broke into a laugh.

"Really, two?" he continued. "Two? That means every six games you get a touchdown. That's when I thought, 'OK, we've got a long ways to go.' Then they told me we didn't get the ball over midfield against Cincinnati until the fourth quarter or something."

Miami gained just one net yard in the second half of that loss. In fairness, the RedHawks did drive to the Cincinnati 20-yard line in the fourth quarter, only to promptly lose 26 yards and turn the ball over on downs. Naturally, they were shutout.

"I've played a lot of football games and even a bad offense gets over midfield," Martin said.

America has seen a lot of football games and it is not easy to find many teams worse than the 2013 RedHawks.

They ranked 122nd (out of 123) in total offense and 113th in total defense. They lost their 12 games by an average of 25.9 points. They averaged just 9.75 points while playing in the MAC, which isn't exactly stacked with SEC-caliber defenses.

View photos Chuck Martin talks during a press conference as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator. (USA Today) More

The closest they came to victory was squandering a rare second-half lead to Massachusetts, which itself was so bad it didn't win another game all season.

So here last December was a then-45 year old with a powerhouse resume – an offensive coordinator in South Bend that included a run to the 2012 national title game, plus six years as a head coach at Division II Grand Valley State in Michigan where he won two national titles and finished runner-up once.

He was the perfect combination of experience and acumen; a proven tactician and motivator. He could both develop talent and recruit it, both at the elite level of Notre Dame and finding diamonds in the rough in D-II.

He was on the radar of any number of higher paying programs where even if they were struggling he'd take over teams with players who scored more than two touchdowns in an entire season. Basically he wouldn't risk the trajectory of his career on a winless bunch in the MAC.

"When he took the job, six ADs from other schools called and said, 'how'd you get him?'" Miami athletic director David Sayler said.

Yeah, how?

"I'm just a little bit off," Martin noted.

Then he laughed again.

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Miami of Ohio is known as the "Cradle of Coaches", having given early chances to legends such as Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Ara Parseghian. Others such as Sean Payton and Jim Tressel have served as assistants. It has a rich football history.

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