LYNNWOOD — Four years ago, Eric Marty scraped together some money and headed to the annual American Football Coaches Association national convention in San Antonio where he hoped to come up with some connections and, ultimately, a job.
In the coming days Marty will head back to the AFCA convention, again in San Antonio, but this time under different circumstances. He now has a job as the head football coach at East Los Angeles College, and he will travel as an expenses-paid guest of the AFCA.
The 29-year-old Marty, a 2004 graduate of Meadowdale High School, was recently named one of “30 Under 30” coaches to attend the association’s inaugural leadership institute. At the January convention, those 30 young coaches will participate in a day of interactive lectures on topics including ethics, leadership, NCAA rules, financial management, hiring, and player safety.
The program, AFCA executive director Grant Teaff said in a statement, “is the beginning of something I think will be important for the future. These coaches will train to be leaders in making our great game safer.”
For Marty, it is special opportunity not only for the recognition, but also as a chance to mingle with some of the game’s brightest young coaching minds. The selection, he said, “is really, really cool. It feels fantastic to gain notoriety within the coaches’ association.”
Marty’s journey in coaching actually began in his years at Meadowdale, where he was not only the football team’s starting quarterback, but also the starting goalie on a state championship soccer team. Though he probably had a more promising future in soccer, he knew he wanted a football coaching career even then, so he went on to play that sport at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.
He returned to Meadowdale as an assistant coach while playing professional football in Europe every spring from 2009 to 2012. His first college coaching job was at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, where he spent one year before moving to Moorpark College in Moorpark, Calif., as an assistant for the next two years.
Marty was hired in January at East Los Angeles College, a two-year junior college, and he inherited a program that was lagging in talent, facilities and morale. Rolling up his sleeves, he spent the ensuing months putting together a staff and a roster, and tackling a lengthy list of neglected issues. Some were glaring, like the lack of an adequate weight room and even a team-wide weight-lifting program. Others were less pressing, but still necessary.
On the morning of the team’s first home game in September, Marty said, “I was at Wal-Mart buying concessions.”
His team went through a difficult season, winning two of its first three games, but then losing the last seven. Two of those defeats were by one point.
“It was a tough first year,” Marty admitted. “I really thought we’d have a much more successful year, and we were really close at times. It was frustrating and it still burns me because you never want to go 2-8. But as much as it hurts your ego … the progress was immense, it really was.”
Despite the disappointing record, word is getting out. There are a lot of football players in and around Los Angeles, and many want to use JC football as a stepping stone to a four-year program. As he prepares for Year 2, Marty is expecting an influx of new talent, including several transfers, and the outlook is promising.
Over the last year, he said, “it was definitely a rebuilding project through and through. You’re constantly trying to evolve what you do to find better and better ways … and it’s contrasted with your resources. So it was definitely a challenge.”
But as he looks ahead, “I feel pretty good where we’re at.”
His dream, of course, is to climb the coaching ladder. “My career plan is to be a football coach,” he said, “and I’d like to take it to the highest level I can. I’m not going to be a junior-college coach forever. I’d love to break into Division I coaching at some point and, who knows, maybe even the NFL. Ultimately, that’s the goal for me.”
But in the meantime he labors long hours for a modest salary, and he is truly thankful for the opportunity.
“It’s insane how many people are trying to get into college coaching,” he said. “To be able to be where I am at my age, I’m very, very lucky. I’ve definitely worked hard and made sacrifices, and it hasn’t been lucrative to this point by any means. But for me, this is a great opportunity to be a college coach with a lot of responsibility, and to really develop my skill set.
“One day,” he said, “I hope and believe that I’m going to make a fair amount of money in this business.” But for now, he added, “I really enjoy what I’m doing. I have a lot of buddies that make a lot more money (than me), but they’re probably not half as passionate about what they do.”
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