SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mike Martin made his first public recruiting pitch by asking a room full of reporters a rhetorical question.
“Can you tell me any other schools where you can compete for national championships on the field and work in the classroom towards Ivy League type degrees?” Martin said. “Can you guys answer that for me?”
After a couple moments of silence, the new Notre Dame football general manager finished his point.
“That’s what we’re doing here,” Martin said. “I just want to put that out there.”
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Martin, who spent with the Detroit Lions the last four seasons of a 22-year career off the field in the NFL, stepped into an evolving role in college football that’s being filled by folks with differing backgrounds. Because Martin came to Notre Dame from the NFL, he has a lot of catching up to when it comes to recruiting. Plenty has changed since he was recruited out of Tampa (Fla.) Jesuit to play defensive back at Vanderbilt (1999-02).
“I’ll be the first to tell you that I won’t have every single answer,” Martin said. “I’m learning. Shoot, I just learned where the bathroom was yesterday. There’s a lot I have to learn here. There’s a learning curve here for me.
“I’m excited to take them on, but the recruiting elements will be sort of new to me. I’ve done some recruiting, but it’s undrafted rookie free agents or recruiting guys in free agency. I will lean heavily on my staff. Fortunately, I’ve walked into this awesome staff. They’re well versed in the recruiting world.
“I’m coming in and saying, ‘Where can I add value?’ This team made it to the national championship before I even stepped foot here. They’re teaching me and I’m learning as much from them as I look to teach.”
Martin replaces Chad Bowden, who followed head coach Marcus Freeman to Notre Dame from Cincinnati and rose through the ranks as a recruiting ace with designs on developing as an evaluator. Bowden left to become USC’s general manager earlier this year.
Martin’s basically the inverse of Bowden. He’ll learn to develop as a recruiter while leaning on his experience as an evaluator, which includes time as a pro scout, regional scout, college scout and national scout. Martin spent four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 11 seasons with the Houston Texans and three seasons with the Carolina Panthers prior to the last four as Detroit’s director of scouting advancement.
Martin would have preferred his first job in the NFL to be as a player, but he quickly learned after his Vanderbilt career that wouldn’t be an option. He was close to accepting a job with Cintas, a corporate uniform company, when he received a phone call from the Buccaneers in 2003.
“It was that day I decided this is something I’d like to look into,” Martin said. “I went there and was able to get the job. Right away, I realized this is something I’m passionate about. I had been scouting for years, whether it was in little league, saying I don’t want to go against that guy. You’re counting, I want to be the third guy so I don’t have to go against that big guy.
“I had been evaluating talent, so I took that opportunity to bring that to the forefront. It was right around there when I realized this is something I could do for a career. Over the years, I’ve grown more and more passionate about it. I love football and I’m passionate about football. I’m passionate about building and constructing rosters. It’s something that’s always been fascinating to me.”
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A role in college football was never really on Martin’s radar until Notre Dame and Freeman expressed interest. When he started to consider the job, he realized it still aligned with what he wanted from his career.
“It’s never been about the NFL or college football,” Martin said. “It’s always been about building and helping people develop. It’s always been about developing young people so that we can get on the same page so they can win on and off the field. And also to win championships on and off the field.
“I thought about it for a minute, and I’ve always dreamed of being a GM, and I can be a GM. So here I am as a GM. Nothing has changed. My mission has stayed the same. It’s just identifying the right people with the right skill set and helping guide them to reach team glory and team greatness.”
That Martin used the phrase “team glory” on multiple occasions indicated he’s quickly adopted the mantra that Freeman frequently cited throughout the last year. Martin’s vision for what Notre Dame needs to rely on when identifying and evaluating talent looks a lot like Freeman’s too.
“I’m a big believer in the intangibles, so character will be a big part,” Martin said. “I know here, there are so many people of character. If you don’t have that and if you’re not of a certain yoke, you’ll be a little out of place here. I want to make sure you guys understand the process for me starts with character.
“When you get to the evaluation process, it’s identifying players who fit what we’re looking for, not just on the field, but in terms of as a person. People who are open to being developed. It’s important we develop young individuals. Whether it’s football players or athletes, or employees who I’ll work alongside — it’s important to develop them.
“It’s important they understand we share the goal of trying to reach team greatness. It’s all a collaborative and team thing. Team glory will be huge here. Marcus says it over and over again. It’s about team glory.”
Martin has reunited at Notre Dame with director of scouting Matt Jansen. The two worked together in Houston. Jansen’s importance may be elevated under Martin.
“Matt has given me the lay of the land here,” Martin said. “It’s been awesome to walk in the building and see a familiar face. He’s one I’ll lean on heavily with his evaluations. He was really active in the portal this past year. We want to expand that for him and have him watch some of the high school stuff.
“He’ll be an essential part of what we do moving forward. He brings a lot of value. He’s great people person. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he has a recruiting background, and he’s been awesome there. He’ll be a big part in that recruiting office for us. His evaluation skills will be crucial for us.”
The full shape of the personnel, scouting and recruiting staffs that Martin will oversee has yet to be completed or fully explained. The Irish lost director of player personnel Zaire Turner to USC and director of recruiting to Caleb Davis to San Diego State. Carter Auman, who was previously an assistant to Bowden, has taken on the role of director of recruiting. Others returning from last year are Becca Sites, coordinator of on-campus recruiting, and Deland McCullough II, analyst for high school relations.
Freeman and Martin share the same philosophy in roster building. Freeman has repeatedly reinforced that his program will major in recruiting while minoring in the transfer portal. That aligns with the NFL model Martin followed in which a team best built through the draft with free agency used to supplement the roster.
“We’re in the development business,” Martin said. “We’re going to lean heavily on our recruits and the guys we recruit out of high school. We’re going to make sure we get the right people and right individuals there.
“We’re constantly looking to improve the roster. We’ll do some of that by going to the portal. We won’t live in the portal. We have academic things here — the academic rigor. We pride ourselves on that. We won’t be able to reach out — we’re not looking to reach out to every single person in the portal. We’ll be very selective there.”
A month from now, the college football landscape could make a seismic shift with the proposed settlement as a result of antitrust litigations thrown at the NCAA. Revenue sharing and roster limits could be on the way. NIL may continue to evolve. Martin can’t possibly know how everything is going to work out. But he’s ready to embrace whatever is ahead.
“The goalposts are moving and they’ll continue to move,” Martin said. “I don’t think there is any set way. I think the challenge of it all, some of the unknown is what intrigued me about this job. If there is no challenge, I don’t want it. It’s not for me.”
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