Demetrice Martin - Football Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Houston

Sep 12 (Fri)

5:30 PM

Demetrice Martin

Title:
Assistant Coach/Cornerbacks
Email:
harding.harper@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-9787

Demetrice Martin is in his second year as the cornerbacks coach at Colorado, as he was hired on March 1, 2020, when he joined Karl Dorrell’s inaugural CU coaching staff from the University of Arizona.

Colorado is his latest stop in a coaching career that has been spent almost entirely in the Pacific 10 and Pac-12 conferences. In addition to having a wealth of experience in developing defensive backs, he has also been long-regarded as one of the top recruiters on the west coast.

Martin, 48, coached the cornerbacks for the Wildcats the for the 2018-19 seasons under head coach Kevin Sumlin, which followed six years on the UCLA staff (2012-17) tutoring the defensive backs for Jim Mora, Jr. At UCLA, he earned the title of assistant head coach in 2014, ahead of his third year on the staff. Bruin defensive backs earned a host of honors during his time there, with several of those secondary units having outstanding seasons.

After inheriting a veteran group in his first year at UCLA, led by future Indianapolis Colt Sheldon Price, he had to oversee a rebuild in 2013 with three new starters. By the next season (2014), four of his defensive backs were honored with All-Pac-12 accolades: Ishmael Adams (first-team), Anthony Jefferson and Fabian Moreau (second-team) and Jaleel Wadood (honorable mention). The unit ranked third in the Pac-12 conference in pass defense, as Jefferson, who signed with the Chicago Bears, and Moreau led the team with eight passes defensed.

In 2015, the Bruins secondary led the Pac-12 in pass defense, allowing the fewest average yards per game (203.2), the lowest average yards per pass attempt (5.78; which was also the eighth-best figure in the NCAA) and in pass defense efficiency (113.4; 27th nationally). Three players received all-conference recognition: Wadood and Randall Goforth (second-team) and Marcus Rios (honorable mention). His 2016 group may have been his best, as UCLA was seventh in the nation in pass defense efficiency (105.8), seventh in passing touchdowns allowed (12) and 22nd in the nation in interceptions (15); those marks were second, first and third, respectively, in the Pac-12. The 5.73 yards per pass attempt allowed was the fifth-lowest figure in the country. Goforth, Moreau and Wadood each again earned honorable mention all-conference recognition.

His time at UCLA followed three years (2009-11) coaching the secondary for Washington after it named Steve Sarkisian as its new head coach. The Huskies defeated Nebraska in the 2010 Alamo Bowl, 19-7, in one of the lowest scoring bowl games that season; UW limited Nebraska to just 189 yards of offense, 98 through the air, as Washington showed off what was ranked as the second-best pass defense in the Pac-10. Fast-forward to 2011, the Huskies were involved in one of the wildest bowl games of all time – and to date the highest scoring in regulation – when Baylor rallied late for a 67-56 win over UW in the Alamo Bowl.

And prior to that in 2008, he returned to Mt. San Antonio (Mt. SAC) College for a second time as its pass defense coordinator and defensive backs coach under longtime coach Bob Jastrab. Mt. SAC won the Mission Conference with a 9-1 record as opponents completed just 49 percent of their passes in averaging a paltry 5.7 yards per attempt. In 2006 and 2007, he received his first taste of big-time college football, hired by head coach Pete Carroll as a defensive graduate assistant at Southern California. Martin worked with the Trojan secondary; USC shared the Pacific 10 titles both years in compiling a 22-4 record and defeating Michigan and Illinois in back-to-back Rose bowls.

He began his coaching career at Monrovia (Calif.) High School, where he was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach for the 1999 and 2000 seasons; he moved on to his high school alma mater, Pasadena’s John Muir, coaching there in 2001, also coaching the secondary at Pasadena City College for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. The Lancers went 18-4 those two years, won the Mission Conference title both seasons and appeared in two bowl games. He remained in the junior college ranks the next three years (2003-05), actually staying in the same division in the Mission Conference, serving in his first stint as the pass defense coordinator and secondary coach at Mt. SAC. Martin was on the staff of legendary coach Bill Fisk for his final two seasons as head coach (and Jastrab’s first), with Mt. SAC posting a 23-9 record during those three seasons, with the Mounties playing in the National Bowl in both 2003 and 2004.

Martin played collegiately at Michigan State, lettering four years as a wide receiver and cornerback (1992-95). He earned first-team All-Big Ten honors in 1994 when he led the conference with seven interceptions. He had 10 career interceptions and was a member of two Spartan bowl teams (1993 Liberty and 1995 Independence). He played professionally as a cornerback for the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europe (1997) and for the Houston Thunderbears (1998-99) in the Arena Football League. He signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Rams in the NFL and spent time on the practice squad.

Martin earned his bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Excelsior (N.Y.) College in 2006.

He was born February 28, 1973 in Pasadena, Calif., and graduated from Pasadena’s Muir High School, where he lettered in football, baseball and track. Hobbies include rest & relaxation, taking long walks and spending quality time with his children. He co-parents with Tiffany Jones Martin and they have two sons, Cole (17) and Cassius (4) and two daughters, Kori (14) and Quincee (10). Nickname is “Coach Meat” (first name is pronounced dah-mee-triss).

AT-A-GLANCE—He has coached in 210 games as a full-time coach, 146 on the FBS/I-A level (all in the Pac-10/12: 78 at UCLA, 38 at Washington, 24 at Arizona and 6 at Colorado), along with 64 on the junior college level. He has coached in eight bowl games (2010 Holiday, 2011 Alamo, 2012 Holiday, 2013 Sun, 2014 Alamo, 2015 Foster Farms, 2017 Cactus, 2020 Alamo).

COACHING EXPERIENCE

1999-2000	Monrovia High School	Defensive coordinator / Secondary
2001-02	Pasadena City College	Secondary
2003-05	Mt. San Antonio College	Pass Defense Coordinator / Secondary Coach
2006-07	Southern California	Graduate Assistant (Defense)
2008	Mt. San Antonio College	Pass Defense Coordinator / Secondary Coach
2009-11	Washington	Defensive Backs
2012-13	UCLA	Defensive Backs
2014-17	UCLA	Assistant Head Coach / Defensive Backs
2018-19	Arizona	Cornerbacks
2020-	Colorado	Cornerbacks