Tj Leota (Instagram: @samoanraider)

TSJ 101 Sports Talks Football with the Oakland Raiders’ Newest Hire, Kelsey Martinez

This past offseason The Oakland Raiders hired former coach, Jon Gruden, to a 10-year contract, and with him came a wave of new changes and faces. One of the newest additions to the Silver and Black is a 26 year-old assistant coach hailing from Pueblo, Colorado: Kelsey Martinez. Martinez is the first female coach hired by the Raiders, and currently the only female strength coach in the NFL.

I had the privilege of talking with Coach Martinez about her recent hire, her experience in the sport, as well as her goals for herself and the Raiders this season. I was humbled by both her resume and football acuity. The only thing more poignant throughout our conversation, other than her experience and aptitude, was her driven spirit, work ethic, gratitude, and warm sense of humor. Raider Nation, to use Coach Gruden’s words, “she’s spectacular… wait till’ you meet her.”

“The NFL is one job that you are not trying to retire from, you know what I mean? So if we can keep them out on the field and keep them valuable to the team, that’s when my goal is accomplished.”

Lauren Phillips: What’s one question you wish everyone would stop asking you?

Kelsey Martinez: [laughs] Umm, I mean there’s really not. I want, I’ll answer, I mean, hmm… [pause] Okay, you know what, there might be one question that I wish people would stop asking me: If I was a Broncos fan. [laughs]

LP: [laughs] Okay, Okay!

KM: [laughs] And I’m, I’m not gonna answer that. Just ’cause I’m from Colorado.

LP: You are a fan of the organization you work for.

KM: [laughs] Yep.

LP: What a lot of readers many not know is that this isn’t your first time working with NFL players. You’ve worked with Khalil Mack, Dak Prescott, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, and more while working with Tom Shaw (at Tom Shaw Performance) down in Florida. How would you say your position there has prepared and trained you to work with the Raiders?

KM: I mean, it did. It did train me to work with the Raiders. I got basically a lot of confidence to work with elite-level athletes while being in Orlando. So coming out here, I was just able to do my job, you know? And do my best at it.

LP: A lot of times people ask me, “How are you able to commentate on or analyze football? You never played football, you’ll never be able to understand the sport like someone who’s been in the pads and played.” What are some of the answers that you give to people if you’ve gotten those questions? And how do you feel that you’re able to bridge the experience gap?

KM: I mean, I’ve had an amazing amount of experience with athletes from all ages and the amount of veterans that I’ve been able to work with. So not only do I have Coach Shaw as my main mentor, but I have been around Coach Gruden and his quarterback camp he has in Orlando … Like I said, I’ve had 10+ year veterans that I’ve worked around. And this is on a daily basis, you know? And I’ve tried to constantly learn as much as I could from all of them. So yeah, I didn’t play football, but I was around football players, baseball players and there’s a commonality between athletes in general, one. And two, what my job is to try and do, is to try and keep these guys out on the field for as long as possible. The NFL is one job that you are not trying to retire from, you know what I mean? So if we can keep them out on the field and keep them valuable to the team, that’s when my goal is accomplished.

“I Can Prove to These Coaches That This Girl Knows What She’s Doing”

Throughout our conversation, Martinez’s humility and gratitude were tangible. Gratitude towards head coach Jon Gruden, gratitude towards the Raiders organization. The opportunity to work as an assistant coach is not something she takes for granted. Martinez spoke about feeling immediately accepted by the organization, saying: “I’m glad that they accepted me the way they did. That goes back to Jon Gruden, you know, hiring me on. There’s so much trust in what he does. They never questioned my ability to be able to do this and do my job because he hired me. You know? The trust was already there.”

“At the end of the day,” she continued, “Jon Gruden gave me this opportunity. That’s the person I want to thank everyday. When I get the opportunity I tell him… Our first game, and coming into training camp, you know, like: ‘Coach, thank you again for this opportunity’. Me being able to prove to him daily and him being able to compliment what I do is huge… I can prove to these coaches, him and the other coaches included, every day that this girl knows what she’s doing.” [chuckles]

LP: To the high school football player in the weight room today, what’s something he should be doing? What are a couple of tips you would give to someone that wants to make it, and make it into the league?

KM: They have to work hard. They have to put the work in. They have to put the time in. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop once you get to the NFL, you know? Once you get drafted or, you know, signed to a team, it doesn’t end there. You haven’t made it in a sense, or you can’t have that mindset that you’ve made it. You have to set new goals for yourself and keep pushing. Your work ethic, your drive, that can’t change, no matter how far you get. And that’s for anybody. You see sometimes guys will come in after college, get drafted or sign with a team, and then all of a sudden, you know, they feel like they’ve made it. They don’t put the same work in, and it’s not like that. It doesn’t work like that. If anything you have more [work] because the competition gets harder.

LP: What would you say the big difference is for the players you’ve seen succeed and the players that seem to hit that plateau? What are those players doing differently with strength, conditioning, or even just their mentalities?

KM: They do everything right at the end of the day. An expression we have is to ‘act like a pro,’ and there’s just a lot that goes with that. You show up on time, you do the right thing, you don’t skip out on workouts. You’re there for everything, you don’t miss a beat, you know? You don’t feel like “I don’t need to do this today” … I’ve seen guys who are, and this is before the Raiders, I would see guys who were twelve-year veterans coming in and working out every day, and out working guys who were coming out of college. And its like, how do you think you are going to make it in the league when there’s a twelve-year veteran working harder than you, you know? [laughs]

LP: What’s a goal for you this season — an individual goal and then a greater goal, for you, for the Raiders?

KM: Did you say besides winning a Super Bowl? [laughs]

LP: [laughs] Point taken, point taken. I love that, that’s a good answer. We just did that over here in Philly.

“If You Want to Do It, You’ll Do it. If You Don’t, You Won’t”

LP: I know a lot of women aspire to work in sports but sometimes feel like the NFL and the NBA are untouchable. People like Becky Hammon and yourself have really torn down those barriers; it feels more accessible now. Now we can expect to see more women in those positions. What would you advise to young female football fans, or fans of athletics in general, wanting to get into coaching? What steps should they be taking?

KM: I mean, something that someone told me is that, at the end of the day, it’s “a want to,” you know? Everything you do is “a want to”. If you want to do it, you’ll do it. If you don’t, you won’t, you know? You can’t stop yourself from doing what you want to do. And I think that’s the biggest thing.

Despite focusing on the field over storylines, Martinez recognized the impact of her hiring for women of all ages, especially kids. “Our running backs coach and our special teams coach who have daughters came up to me and said ‘I think this is so great what you’re doing. I get to tell my daughter that she can do anything she wants’ And to me… I mean, once I got here and I hear that right away, I’m like ‘wow.'”

Towards the end of our conversation, we stepped away from football and discussed her pregame playlist.

KM: [laughs] Pregame playlist, oh man. [pause] People probably hate any of my playlists because its always, like, super like R&B. Like real chill kind of music. I don’t go for the super hype whatever. I just like to get in the zone, you know what I mean?

LP: [laughs] Did The Internet make the playlist cut?

KM: Did any of it?

LP: No, no the Internet. Syd Tha Kyd and the Internet, have you heard of them?

KM: [surprised] No

LP: Oh, you gotta check them out!

KM: Okay I will! [laughs]

“The Industry Has Grown Where It’s Not Only on the Right Side of Gender Progress, But on the Right Side of History”

Lee Brandon, who was hired as an assistant coach for the Jets in 1990, graciously took the time to speak with me about the hiring of Coach Martinez. “Oh I can’t even tell you, I was so excited. It’s amazing that all of these women are actually getting the attention that they deserve. Not only is it magnificent, but it’s so exciting that after 25+ years, that actually the industry has grown where it’s not only on the right side of gender progress, but on the right side of history…”

I asked Ms. Brandon what role she felt, if any, gender played in her time with the Jets. “Well, [gender] initially had nothing to do with it because they thought I was a man. We handed in our resumes … and I was selected as one of the top recruits. I walked in the door and I was the only woman in the entire room. And it was just one of those things where I said ‘well what do we need to do’. They said ‘well, there’s strength requirements’ and I said ‘what are they?’ They’re like, ‘you have to deadlift 315’ and I said ‘show me the bar, lets go’ … Like most people, I had to step in and be twice as good and work twice as hard. So, to answer your question, initially gender played nothing in it. But once I was in the door and won the respect of the men, they didn’t care what gender I was.”

“You Don’t Make it Into Those Doors Unless You are Brilliant and You Know What You’re Doing”

LP: If you could pass along a message to Martinez, one you wish someone told you, what would it be?

Lee Brandon: Basically, the message I would send her is: work hard, invest all the extreme effort, and be extremely committed to the job…

LP: That idea of striving to be the best, working hard, and keeping that sole focus on doing one’s job the best that they possibly can. That was something that Ms. Martinez definitely expressed in my interview with her.

LB: I mean, ultimately, you don’t make it into those doors unless you are brilliant and you know what you’re doing.

LP: What would you tell the young female football fan who’s dreaming about wearing the whistle and holding the clipboard themselves one day?

LB: You know, you just gave me some chill bumps. The answer is yes, yes, and yes! Dream big and set the goal. If that’s the goal and that’s in their sights and they love the sport as much as I did growing up … I mean, I lived, drank, and ate football. Set the goal, train accordingly, do all the basic steps I just stated before … Don’t let anything – not gender, not loss, not life – don’t let anything get in the way of being successful. Ultimately, success is not gendered.

Just Win, Baby

A bright future is surely ahead for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders with Kelsey Martinez on staff. As a lifelong football fan and female sports writer, Kelsey Martinez’s hiring was personally inspiring. While the primary focus of Coach Martinez’s hiring should be on her impressive résumé and football IQ, it goes without saying that her presence on the sideline will have a deep impact. It is both a breath of fresh air and an encouraging sign for the many young girls and women watching. I am excited to see the female football coaches of the future point back to this historic hire; they will be standing on great shoulders. So, from an Eagles fan to a Raiders Coach: forget 1981, we’ll see you in February.

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