I remember many Sooner fans did not like that hire, and some even had heard from Georgia fans who were appalled that a program like OU would hire Martinez. He turned the weak link of the defense at the start of the year, to the strong link of the defense. As far as I can tell he has done a tremendous job with the secondary. Like always: in Stoops we trust.
has anyone mentioned Fleming yet? i haven't been around much the last few days, but he went from being a whipping boy in the first game to the Fiesta Bowl defensive MVP
If the hire not a special teams coach, he is not what OU needs. (imo) But maybe Coach Stoops isn't as tired of the crappy ST play as I am. :O
I was thinking the same thing the other day after Georgia got punked. Doesn't look like Martinez was the problem. Getting fired from Georgia worked out better for him in the end. Sounds like Coach Stoops' gamble on him paid off.
Martinez stole the show in last summers vid on soonersports, thought he was great and expected big things from our secondary this year.
I noticed that many of the drills the secondary worked on were tackling and being physical. I like Martinez and really looking forward to seeing what this secondary will look like next year.
I know the players all really like him. He really has done an amazing job!! Georgia is a dump of a program and is always overrated. You know he has to feel vindicated knowing he wasn't the problem.
Martinez was a problem at UGA as the DC. He was never a problem as the DB coach, which is what he is at OU. The first game against USU gave us reason to pause, but even then I could see that the DBs were playing different than they had in years past. They were more physical and trying to make plays with their head and their hands rather than just physically staying with their man. I have watched our DBs bat down more balls this year than I have in any other year, and that includes the 2000 NC year where there were a few rather significant bat downs.
I was a little concerned after the Utah State game, not so much about Martinez but about those particular players. The thought was they were in position but just weren't making the plays. I guess they got that figured out.
There were some in here that wanted him benched, just like many in here wanted Cameron Kenney benched. True coaches of genius, they are.
I said at the time that if Stoops thought Kenney was good enough to play, that was good enough for me.
I was the moron who wanted Fleming benched. I started a thread at the start of the season asking for his head. I admitted I was wrong, though. That doesn't mean I have gotten over it. He has turned out to be a really solid DB. That first game he was pretty bad, but after that he has dominated. I need to learn not to rush to judgment on a kid.
