Omaha North CONTINUES to bounce-back from its season-opening loss to Omaha Westside. Coach Larry Martin joins Hurrdat Sports Live to discuss his commitment to the culture of the Vikings’ football program, and his “why” to why he keeps returning to the program. What has changed in his over 20 years at Omaha North, and what’s the message for his players? How will Omaha North matchup in a top-ten battle against Kearney tonight?
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We are joined now by head coach of the Omaha North Vikings football team, Larry Martin. Coach, how we doing this morning? Well, not too bad. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Coach, you’re the you’re the first up in the rotation. I don’t know if that says more about us or the fact that you’re just kind of a cool customer, man. You always always willing to represent your program, man. I appreciate that. That probably just means I’m getting a little bit older. thing. Well, everybody tells me I’m awake. These everybody keeps tell Oh, man. Coach Martin, man, he’s just cooler than I’m like, I know, guys. No, no, no. It’s even better as he gets older. I’m like, is it as Are you are are you like wine, coach? You’re getting better with age? Uh, you know, I just enjoying enjoying being around the kids and uh took a ride by the school this morning to see my why, you know, and watching the construction of a new stadium for the North Omaha community and and just uh kind of puts things in perspective, you know. Um I I don’t go on the drive I park on the west side of the school typically, but this morning the you know the the stars were out the Venus was out this morning by the moon and and drove by and it was pretty cool to see this morning. Oh, he said to see his why. Coach, you’re you go getting me emotional again. You know how we kind of can get philosophical when we get together. I promise I’m going to make this about football, but the why, right? Ton of state title appearances, ton of state rings, continuing to kind of just love on these kids. You said at at some point you you did it change? Is it the same? Is it still about the kids? I know you’ve always wanted to see this stadium on campus. Is that the new part of it or are we just evolving? Yeah, I I think it’s yeah, getting a little bit older and you see it through a little bit of a different lens, but um you know, obviously we got humbled the first week and uh you know, that’s part of life and um you know, you learn from those things and and you got a couple of choices and I’ve been proud of our kids and coaches how they handled that and u you know, we’re um you know, working hard and and just uh you know, that’s to me it’s about the bigger picture, you know, of of of life, lifelong lessons and what they can take with them after they’re done playing, you know, sports and and help them in their young adult lives when they’re the most formidable because their decisions that they’re going to make over the next three or four years after they’re done playing for us are going to impact them for the rest of their life. Coach, you know, I I’m as you’re talking about that, I’m curious. I’m sure with as successful as you’ve been, you’ve had opportunities to go other places and coach other places and like you think you think is that true, coach? You think? Well, you know, maybe I’m just guessing. I have no information here. Uh, why do you feel so connected and so why do you feel like Omaha North and that community has resonated so much with you that you’re like, “No, this is this is the place I need to be.” Well, I you know, early on, you know, they embraced me. I’m not from the state of Nebraska. Uh, I coached out at Fremont Bergen when I first came here. a great community, great great uh town out there and and u but you know I took a leap of faith and and um you know and and u wanted to to take on some new endeavors and move my family into a a bigger city and um you know they just accepted me right away. Uh I’m probably not the easiest guy to be accepted. But uh you know they I got involved in the youth programs up there, the little Vikes and what have you and they they just embraced me and and then obviously my children went to school here and and then that ties it a little bit tougher with you and and um you know very honored that other people would consider those types of things. But um you know I just felt that it was the right thing for me to do. Uh you know the Omaha Public Schools has taken pretty good care of me and and uh then you got Mr. Haynes, uh, Jean Haynes, you know, he let me go nowhere. And so, uh, you can’t tell him no, I’m kidding. But, uh, no, I just, uh, it’s about relationships with me. There’s great other schools that I have a lot of respect for in this Omaha metropolitan area. I often reflect back when my wife and I were moving here, uh, and how proud people were of their, uh, when we’re looking at houses and where we were going to end up living. And it just was amazing to me going around with the realer of how people were so proud of their communities and their education and and uh we landed where we did and and here we sit you know 26 years later. Coach, it’s pretty cool. Um you know I saw Fair Jones, you’ve obviously got Niles Paul and Griggsby and so many guys that want to come back that were in the program that want to be around you. You said something to me at seven on seven I think kind of typifies your personality. you know, they were just coming off the surgery and um he said, “You know, I I I I want to I want to invest back in some of these young coaches so I can I can leave things better than I found them.” And I just felt like in 15 seconds worth of an answer, it kind of doesn’t it pretty much just encompasses who you are, doesn’t it? I mean, lot lots of other tugs and pulls and you didn’t feel good at the time. You were kind of hobbling around, but you made it about investing and wanting to grow other people. And as you said, so you could leave it better than you found it. No doubt. And you know, you know, sometimes I think uh you know, obviously the light potentially is on at the end of the tunnel for me and and uh but um you know, that time will tell, but I just think that the one of the the you know, I’ve got some friends like all of us that are businessmen and and that you know, I think uh if you’re a CEO of a company, uh how your company does two or three years after you’re gone has a representation of you. And this program has meant so much to me that and my family that I want to make sure that I have good people in the program that when that time arises um uh that that that we’ve invested back into our kids and and surround them with good people. And I’ve been very fortunate that our former players want to come back here and and be a part of it all. Coach, it’s interesting. You you you mentioned the bounceback. you had a and you don’t really know at the time until you kind of see it manifest itself. You you come back and you win the tough one at Papio South. I I thought I think they’re a pretty good football team, too. Um watching them on film and then you you come out and you’re so explosive um in the second half, whatever the talk I can imagine what some of what was said at halftime and and the adjustments that were made and you come out and you do work in the second half. It’s a It’s 11 in a row, I think, against Central and you’re already on to the next one, getting on the the the or no, you’re at home tonight. Are you Are you here versus Yeah, you’re here. We are. You get you get you get Carney here. Like, how are you just continuing to kind of stack the blocks as you guys clearly are getting better every week? Yeah, you know, um, as you guys well know, it’s it’s, you know, we early on, like I said, we got humbled, you know, it kind of snowballed on us, uh, against Westside in the first. It’s a very obviously well coached, welltalented football team and and we were all a little disappointed um, how that shook out. Um, but it, you know, we um, had some opportunities to probably keep it closer in the special teams, they wore us down, what have you. Uh but you know just going back to work on that Monday and and and and figuring out you know what we got to do and you know I’m blessed that I have good coaches that believe in the process of what we do and and like I said you play good teams early on it’s going to help you and and uh you know it can make for some long days and long Saturdays and stuff like that early in the year but you know if you just go out and you know play some teams that maybe you you you win and but you don’t find out who you are uh then you’re you know week four you might get a humble broke quick. So, um you know, just proud of the kids, proud of the coaches. There were some long days there. Um but just learning our learning what we can do, getting a little better shape, obviously. Um and uh just, you know, being patient and and persistent at at our approach. I know what we do works and the kids uh all have to buy into that on a daily basis. Coach, you’re in a unique position because you’re held in such high regard. Um, obviously you always have good relationships with colleges regardless of level from power four to nia. There’s a ton of respect and reverence for coach Martin. You you’ve watched this recruiting thing play out for years going back to, you know, guys like Bates and Niles and you you’ve seen a ton. Now you get NIL and the transfer portal and how the game’s kind of changed in in terms of how kids are recruited. You have so many good players. I look at a guy like Cannon who could have made the case that with all the other starstudded folks out there and he plays with arguably the best Well, it’s not even arguable. He plays with the best player in the state, a guy like Darien Jones. Cannon is but he’s but he’s 160 pounds. He he’s he’s hit us for 100 yards twice in three years. that hasn’t h the he’s really really good and you’re you’re sitting there watching this thing unfold and I know you want the best for your kids. Do you struggle with the landscape of of of recruiting and college football and how it’s moving versus how good you know some of these players are in the metro? Yeah, it’s um it’s quite interesting. you know, there’s just um the the key to me, you know, looking at it sometimes is, and I think this still stays the same, is you better go somewhere where they want you. Um that that’s where I’ve I’ve tried to tell our kids. um you know the the second piece is is that um uh you know you can go up you know so if if if you know you go to a I hate to say that but if you go to such and such school and things like that you know it’s you know like division two you see kids I mean you know DeAndre Harper leaves you know a division two school and goes down to KU so yeah uh to me it’s it’s it it’s you better go somewhere where it you know uh where they want you um because they’re going to take care of you and they’ve got the resources for that. Um, so that part of it hasn’t really changed for me. Uh, but then I also tell them to trust their heart with the relationships, you know, and the kids. And that’s where I was proud of Darien and and everything’s going to work out for Giron and uh you know and those guys because they’re great kids uh with great family support and uh and they’re going to go somewhere uh to be a you know what I get worried sometimes is is that we often refer to them as student athletes and sometimes I think the athlete part is get put in front of the the student part and that’s where I I just worry about the kids and making sure that academically they’re they’re employable once they’re done with college and and making sure that they’re in a good situation there because uh um at some point in time the cleats do go up. Yeah. Is it is it uh like that’s where your relationships with those kiddos matters, right? I mean you you look at McIntyre Daily I mean he’s pretty sweet, right? I mean but at the end of the day, you know, guys look and they see 6’3 or whatever he is 230 and I’m like listen this this guy’s as as good as anybody we’ve played against or the same with can like you’ve just seen Max Clark, right? You’ve just seen so many of these really good players and I I just imagine you got to have these conversations with guys where you’re loving on them like they just keep trying to invest because they I mean they’re really good players and I’m not and you know I’m not just saying that. No, no, no, no doubt. And they really are. And they’re great kids and they understand, you know, and with having, you know, Donovan and and Tyson down at Nebraska and I’m sure Caleb brings those conversations back. I want our student athlete our, you know, everybody says, “Oh, yeah. I want to go on to college and play football.” But do they really do they understand that that wakes up at six o’clock in the morning and and doesn’t probably get back to home until you know such and such time and then his sleep is monitored of how long he’s sleeping and they’re they’re you know it’s you know I was talking to Tyson I mean these are these are you know these young men are are being accounted for and and uh and so I you know I think that’s important for them. So, I think everybody gets caught up in the the NLI money, not not the athletes, but the people looking at this, but they don’t understand the regiment of seven days a week that these young men are are are willing to to put forth uh for the for the college and the state that they’re playing for. Coach, before we let you go here, uh obviously had the big win against Central last week, got Carney coming uh to your place this week. You know, you talk about kind of the process and how you go about things. I’m sure it’s really easy to get up for guys like Canon and Clark and Jones when they’ve got some of their counterparts that are really highly touted in this recruiting process like we talked about. How do you keep them just as focused and just as in process when maybe there aren’t the headliner names on the other side even though you got a really good football team coming to play you? as big as keeping them grounded. Um, you know, uh, is, you know, with social media and everything, I I don’t Yeah, Damon knows this as well as I do. I’m blue collar and I’m not putting up with no BS. We’re going to work hard Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and and uh I don’t care how many times they see their, you know, their their self on Twitter and and uh, you know, and everything. We got to be able to to to earn that, right? And uh Brandon Cool out at at uh at uh he’s a gym carney is coming in. He’s one of a kind and he’s a damn dang good football coach and he’s going to bring an angry football team in here just like he did last year and and uh he’s going to you know it’s going to be a tough challenge for us tonight and we’re excited about it. Um, and we’ve had a pretty good week, but uh, you know, tonight’s, you know, I just said, you know, I know last week was a big, you know, you know, neighborhood game and stuff, but we can’t let Central beat us this week. Just because we won that game doesn’t mean that we we don’t prepare and get ready for our next opponent. Coach, wishing you the best, bud. You know, I’ll talk to you soon. Yep. Look forward to it. Thanks for having me and and keep that lightning out of here tonight. I’ll try, man. I’ll do do my best non- rain dance, but you know I can’t move, so we’ll figure it out. Yeah, that game goes past 10 o’clock. It’ll be my bedtime. So, thank you for All right, coach. That is Coach Larry Martin. That’s Coach Larry Martin from Omaha North.
