After eight seasons, a 56-33 record, three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles and a NCAA Playoff appearance, the Russ Martin-era is over at Colorado Mesa University.
The now former head football coach and CMU have agreed to part ways following CMU’s 6-5 season. Martin has led the Mavericks to six consecutive winning seasons, but the team has missed the playoffs for the last three years and has not won an RMAC Championship since 2017.
On the morning of Nov. 21, Co-Athletic Directors Kris Mort and Bryan Rooks met with the football coaching staff to discuss the future where the two parties agreed to mutually part ways. Martin, and the majority of the coaching staff, will no longer be with the Mavericks moving forward.
“We sat down and met as an assessment and a recap over time. We just decided to mutually to part ways,” Co-Athletic Director Kris Mort said. “It’s the end of the football season and we met as an admin staff with [Martin], and when the door was open we had to come to a decision go in different directions.
Martin came to CMU after serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Nebraska-Kearney. The 25-year coaching vetran started his career at Baylor in 1985 and has spent his time as a head coach and assistant coach at numerous schools such as Black Hills State, Southwest Missouri State and Bethany College.
“There’s always good people involved,” Mort said. “In fairness, we appreciate what has been brought to the table and the good things that have happened here at CMU football, and the direction we have gone and will continue to go…It’s a mutually agreed upon thing and it was just time to move on.”
This year was a big question for the Mavericks. A fourth-place RMAC finish and crucial losses in winnable games raised some eyebrows about the program moving forward. CMU had their bright moments but they were overshadowed by last-play defeats at the beginning of the year, and a couple of blow-out losses to superior conference foes.
Martin’s last game as the CMU head football coach was a 51-13 win over to New Mexico Highlands.
A nation-wide search will start as soon as possible for a new head coach who, once hired, will work to bring in their own staff of coaches to prep for the oncoming season. As of now, offensive coordinator Riley Newcomer will be taking over recruiting duties and daily football operations in preparation of the new head coaching search. Other part-time staff and coaches will also remain with the team.
“There has been some good run and some good success here, so we want to continue to traject onward and upward and that’s our aim and our direction,” Mort said. “We’ll beginning a new search immediately for a new chief.”
