CPA names Ingle Martin head football coach

Brentwood Home Page news reports

Christ Presbyterian Academy announced Thursday, Feb. 3 that its new head football coach is former NFL, collegiate and high school standout Ingle Martin, who most recently served as an assistant coach for Ensworth’s 2010 Division II state-championship team.  Martin becomes the fourth head football coach in CPA history. Founded in 1985, the academy is embarking on its 25th year of athletics and its 19th year of high school football. He will also serve as member of the faculty at CPA.

Brentwood Home Page news reports

Christ Presbyterian Academy announced Thursday, Feb. 3 that its new head football coach is former NFL, collegiate and high school standout Ingle Martin, who most recently served as an assistant coach for Ensworth’s 2010 Division II state-championship team.

“I am so grateful to be given an opportunity to be a part of a special place like CPA. I know this is God’s calling for me and for my family, and I look forward to leading our program into the future,” said Martin, whose breadth of experience on every level of the game includes stints at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs.

Martin becomes the fourth head football coach in CPA history. Founded in 1985, the academy is embarking on its 25th year of athletics and its 19th year of high school football. He will also serve as member of the faculty at CPA.

“Ingle Martin brings a tremendous amount of energy and enthusiasm to our football program,” CPA Athletics Director Mike Ellson said. “He has a contagious spirit about him, and he’s a big-picture thinker who will support our entire athletics program. We are encouraged not only about the rapport he will build with our football community, but also about the relationships he will develop with all of our students and families. ”

Titans quarterback and CPA parent Kerry Collins appreciates his former teammate’s character and football savvy.

“CPA should be excited about who they’ve hired,” Collins said today. “As a guy who has played with Ingle and been around him, I know that he has very strong beliefs, which I think everybody will see, and he’s got a great football mind. He’s a smart guy. I’ve also seen that he’s excellent working with kids. You’re going to get the very best from him.”

After leading Montgomery Bell Academy to three consecutive state championships (1998-2000) and 32 straight victories while being named Mr. Football (1999 and 2000), Martin was recruited by University of Florida head coach Steve Spurrier, where he played quarterback, receiver and punter for the Gators before transferring to Furman University for his final two years of a storied collegiate career.

He was a second-team All-American selection at quarterback and punter for the Paladins before being selected as a fifth-round draft choice by the Green Bay Packers in the 2006 NFL Draft.  Legendary coach Boots Donnelly has known Martin over the years and spoke highly of his character, tenacity and football savvy.

“I think you all have made one great hire,” Coach Donnelly said. “The guy has everything that you’re look for. He will identify with the players and get along super with the parents and all of the students at the school. He has a great deal of knowledge. What you always look for is a person who has had to fight like crazy to prove himself. Coming up, Ingle had to prove that he could play early. Then at Florida, he was always being knocked back down. He went to Furman and showed that he could play, and made it to the NFL. He has developed a great deal of toughness, of a never-say-die attitude—that if you believe you can do something, you go and try to do it. That’s what Ingle believes. The guy’s personality and competitiveness are overwhelming. You can’t help but be drawn to him.”

CPA High School Principal Nate Morrow put Martin’s hire into perspective.

“At CPA, we have football for a variety of reasons,” Morrow said. “It brings our community together. It helps teach young men the value of teamwork, sacrifice, perseverance and competition. It teaches the importance of setting goals and working hard to achieve them—and how to interpret it all through the filter of the gospel. We believe Ingle Martin is the man to lead this process at CPA, and we are excited to see it come to fruition.”

“I don’t quite know how to define the ‘it’ factor,” added CPA Headmaster Richard B. Anderson, “but I know it when I see it. Ingle Martin has ‘it.’ I am thankful that he has agreed to build upon the foundation laid by the three previous football coaches in our short history. “I am excited for our young men—of all ages in our school—to get to be around a man of godly character like Ingle. He is a great husband and father, and he has been mentored by some of the greatest football coaches in America. The future is bright at CPA with the addition of Ingle Martin.”

CPA has won two state championships, in 2000 and 2002. The Lions were a Class 3A playoff contender last fall, bowing out of the first round of the playoffs to eventual 3A state runner-up Goodpasture Christian School. CPA will open its 2011 season in Week 0 by hosting the Cougars.