BATTLE CREEK — In April, Marty Martin learned he was going to be the new athletic director at Pennfield High School. One of his first duties was going to be to look for a new football coach at the school.
Turns out, he didn’t have to look far.
Martin has been named as the new varsity head football coach at Pennfield.
MORE: Martin to be new athletic director at Pennfield
“It’s a blessing. I am thrilled to be the head coach at Pennfield,” Martin said.
It’s an interesting choice from a school district that has not often allowed its athletic directors to coach a sport.
Martin was part of the search committee and was in on the interview process as Pennfield narrowed its list to a select group of candidates for the head football coaching job. In the end, Martin was asked to step in to be the head coach.
“The superintendent asked me to take the job and I’m excited to do it,” Martin said.
Martin was on the football coaching staff last year under then-head coach Robbie Hattan, who stepped down after three seasons, going 8-19.
“I really believe being part of the program is going to help me. I know our athletes, have built relationships with them and have been able to build trust with them,” Martin said. “Hopefully all of that will allow me to motivate them to commit to what we are trying to do, which is get Pennfield back to a culture of winning.”
Martin has a knowledge of that experience from when Pennfield was a perennial power in the 1980s.
“I played in the first ever game between Maple Valley and Pennfield when we were both in the SMAA,” Martin said. “I was on the field when Pennfield scored on the very last play of the game to win.”
An alum of Maple Valley, Martin was a head coach at that school from 2015-23. Overall, he was a coach in the Maple Valley football program from 1987-2002. He also coached at various other schools, including St. Philip, Lakewood Lake Odessa.
New basketball coach
Another job Martin had when he was selected as athletic director was to find a new head varsity boys basketball coach.
Martin took care of that as well.
Pennfield has named Jackson Murphy Cruze as the new head varsity basketball coach. Cruze played at Olivet University and was later a coach in the men’s program. He also coached the junior varsity team at Aquinas College. Last year, he was the head girls basketball coach at Forest Hills Eastern.
“Applied for the job, talked to Coach Martin and it all felt right and it all came tother and it’s a great opportunity for me,” Cruze said. “So now, we are hitting the ground running. Trying to learn the players, have the players try to learn me and take step forward every day and get ready for the season.”
Cruze takes over for Hattan, who was also the varsity boys basketball coach at Pennfield before stepping down. Hattan led Pennfield to back-to-back Interstate 8 Conference titles the last two years.
Also, while he was hiring coaches, he picked Maxie Naramor to be the new competitive cheerleading coach at Pennfield.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Pennfield names new football, boys basketball coaches
Reporting by Bill Broderick, Battle Creek Enquirer / Battle Creek Enquirer
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By Bill Broderick, Battle Creek Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
