After former head football coach Scott Greene made it known he would be stepping down from his position, it was announced, in late January, that former MIT head coach Chad Martinovich would be his replacement.
The announcement was made by Executive Director of Athletics George VanderZwaag who said he is “thrilled to have Chad join our staff.”
Martinovich attended and played football for Hobart College before graduating in 1994, and began his coaching career at Bucknell University where he remained until 1995. He then moved to Hamilton College where he coached for two years, to the University of Albany for one and, finally, was the offensive coordinator for Swarthmore College until 2001. Before taking a job at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004, he returned to coach at Hamilton College in 2001 where he also became an assistant professor of physical education. At RPI, he took the team to the 2007 NCAA tournament before accepting the head coaching position at MIT in 2009.
In 2014, Martinovich won a conference championship and had an NCAA playoff run with MIT, earning him multiple Coach of the Year honors, including that of the New England Football Conference. This past season, he led MIT to a 7–3 overall record, going 5–2 in the conference where his team averaged 26.8 points and 400 yards of total offense per game.
Despite excitement about the team’s new leadership, Greene, who coached the Yellowjackets for 12 seasons, will be missed.
“We are deeply grateful to Scott for the 12 years that he has led our football program. He cares deeply about his players, and has earned their respect and support,” said VanderZwaag.
When Greene took over as coach in 2006, he led his team to post-season appearances in both that year and 2007. Since 2011, 38 members of UR Football were named to the Hampshire Honor Society, in which players must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher over four years of college. UR produced the most honorees (13) out of any school in the nation in 2014.
Also announced in January was the hiring of former Yellowjacket Brian Daboll as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator. Daboll, a Buffalo native who attended St. Francis High School and played football at UR from 1994-1995, has five Super Bowl rings from his time coaching the New England Patriots. He also helped coach the University of Alabama to an NCAA championship.
From 2000-2006, Daboll served as the tight ends coach for New England, and returned in 2013 before moving to coach at Alabama in 2017. He also served as an offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns from 2009-2010, for the Miami Dolphins in 2011 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012.
“He’s done a great job for me. He does a big role on our staff and he’s someone I have a lot of confidence and trust in because of the experience and amount of time he has been in our system,” Bill Belichick told the Democrat and Chronicle. “He’s a really good coach. He could probably coach any position on the field. He works hard and again, has a very extensive knowledge of the game and he has done a great job for us.”
