E.A. Sports Today

Findley for the season

Ohatchee’s Martin said to have told people he wouldn’t be back rest of the season, beyond that is uncertain

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Chris Findley should start getting used to coaching the Ohatchee football team for the long haul.

Scott Martin, the eighth-year Indians’ coach who brought a downtrodden program back to statewide prominence over the last five years, will not be returning as the Indians head coach this year, East Alabama Sports Today has learned.

Martin has been on administrative leave for what’s being called an “internal incident” within the school since the week of Ohatchee’s Sept. 17 game with Saks. Sources have told EA Sports Today Martin has told people he “would not be back” this season.

It is uncertain whether the decision to step away is voluntary or the result of action – actual or pending – taken by the Calhoun County school board related to the incident. It also is uncertain whether it is temporary or permanent.

The next regularly scheduled school board meeting, the likely venue for a resolution, is Oct. 28 — the day before the Indians’ final regular-season game at Munford.

While rumors persist in the community, no one in official circles has commented on the situation since the story broke beyond the initial confirmation of the administrative leave. School officials repeatedly claim to have no additional insight. Martin has had no contact with the team since and has made no public comment.

Findley was installed as the Indians’ interim head coach upon Martin’s leave. They lost the first game of the transition to Saks, had an open date the next week and then upset second-ranked Piedmont Friday 28-24 to give Findley his first victory as a head coach and move into a four-way tie for first place in their region.

“These guys have been through a lot,” Findley said after the Piedmont game. “Our coaching staff has been through a lot, our players have been through a lot … This is a big morale boost.”

He regularly declines to comment on the coaching situation.

The Indians (3-3) play winless Glencoe this week, and play their next three region games against teams that currently have a combined total of two victories, meaning a playoff berth is very much a possibility.

Martin is 59-26 in his seven-plus seasons with the Indians. Over the previous five seasons, the team has gone 52-9 with two region titles and reaching the third round of the playoffs three times. It’s the best five-year stretch in the program’s history since the late ‘70s when they went 52-8 and won the 1977 Class 1A state title.

They were 32-4 the previous three years with back-to-back undefeated region seasons in Class 2A in 2018 and 2019.

Martin’s career record in nearly 30 years as a head coach in Alabama and Louisiana is 166-140.

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