Meet the Coaches: Head Coach Mike Martz

Throughout the AAF's inaugural broadcast, the purpose of the league came up as a topic several times. The AAF is designed to be a complementary league to the NFL, unlike the ill-fated USFL, whose run ended when they decided to switch from a spring schedule to a fall schedule in 1986, attempting to directly compete with the NFL. Since 1986 was their last season, we can all guess how that went.

But our new, beloved AAF provides players—whether not quite good enough to make it into or stay in the NFL—with a second chance at greatness. With the amazing coaching talent brought into the league, the players have the best setup possible to improve, and perhaps no coach is more suited to fill this role than our own Head Coach, Mike Martz.

Ex-Rams coach Mike Martz with team president Kosha Irby at SDCCU Stadium as the league formally announced San Diego as one of the eight teams in the newly formed Alliance of American Football league. Photo courtesy of the AAF

Martz has been in the football world longer than many people—myself included—have been alive. He started as an assistant coach for a high school team way back in 1973. He quickly worked his way through multiple colleges, including Fresno State and Arizona State before finally landing in the NFL as the Los Angeles Rams's QB coach in 1992. He briefly left the Rams for two years in 1997 to work for the Redskins as their QB coach, but was quickly called back to the Rams (now in St. Louis) in 1999 as their offensive coordinator.

Back with the Rams, Martz's scheme—a variation on the proven successful Air Coryell scheme—lit up the league. His first year back, the Rams won Superbowl XXXIV, which solidified Martz's rise to the Head Coach position after his predecessor, Dick Vermier, retired.

Beginning with their 1999 season and running through the 2001 season, Martz's offense became known as The Greatest Show on Turf due to the fact that they smashed records for both their franchise and the league as a whole. Martz brought the Rams to the playoffs in 2000 and back to the Superbowl in 2001, but they couldn't squeeze out a win against the New England Patriots, giving Tom Brady his first Superbowl win. As a Raiders fan, I personally think that game should have been Rams-Raiders, but that's for an argument for another time.

After leaving his position with the Rams in 2005, Martz went on to be the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, and the Chicago Bears, enjoying varying degrees of success, most notably bring the Chicago Bears to the NFC championship game against Green Bay in his first year (2010).

After that, Martz retired from coaching, only to come back to coach our very own San Diego Fleet. Personally I'm thrilled to have a head coach with such a storied history in the NFL. I'm sure there are plenty of fans wondering if Martz still has 'it', but only time will tell. As the season goes on, I'm sure comparisons to Jon Gruden will sprout up (in fact, Martz has already given Gruden his seal of approval), but I'll hold off speculating here until we have a few more weeks to under our belt.