By Liliana Marquez
After two seasons of poor results, the football team’s new Head Coach Eric Marty seeks to create an elite program and a winning team for the Huskies.
Marty, a native of Seattle, Washington, assumed his post as the new football head coach at the beginning of the year.
This is the first time that the 29-year-old is appointed head coach, even though he has plenty of coaching and playing experience both in the U.S. and overseas.
Marty had the opportunity to travel to Europe where he played and coached football professionally.
He coached receivers and was special team’s coordinator for a season at Oklahoma Panhandle State University.
Before arriving at East Los Angeles College, he was an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for Moorpark College in Ventura County for two seasons.
Marty was also an assistant coach for three seasons at Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood, Washington, where he attended and played as a quarterback.
A new staff arrives along with Marty, including Receiver Coach Danny McDonald.
McDonald, who attended Meadowdale when Marty was an assistant coach, said that all the experience and knowledge Marty has gained from traveling and coaching has made him a professional.
“His chance to go there (Europe), kind of broadened his horizon and opened his eyes to how other people do it and how other people play football in different areas. He not only got to play there, but he also coached there and that is a great thing,” McDonald said.
Marty, who was hungry for a head coaching opportunity, said he found out about the position in an online job board.
“I saw that the head coach was released and that the job was going to be opened, so I sent my information and a cover letter to the athletic director,” Marty said.
He also sent a video where he talked about four pillars which he wants to build the football program around.
“Those pillars are recruiting, player development, playing great football and winning games, and doing everything we can to get our players to four-year schools,” Marty said.
He said that if his coaching staff achieves these things, the football program will become special and dynamic.
ELAC Athletic Director Al Cone said one of the reasons Marty was appointed football head coach was because of the interview he gave and the confidence he showed.
“His interview was phenomenal. He’s intelligent, aggressive and has desire. By looking at his demeanor, he is extremely confident and shows it without being arrogant. He is going to be successful,” Cone said.
Marty said his biggest challenge will be the recruiting process.
“At the end of the day you have to have talented athletes, so how well we do in recruiting is always going to determine whether or not we can build the elite program that we want have,” Marty said.
According to Cone, Marty’s biggest challenge will be getting familiar with the community and understanding how things work at this particular college.
For Cone, having a young football coaching staff is something that will help the team and will add more enthusiasm on and off the field.
“I believe that the age is irrelevant if these people have a great football background,” Cone said.
Marty is aware of the issues that the Huskies have been facing over the last two seasons, and along with his coaching staff, he is already working hard to improve the team’s statistics and performance for the upcoming season.
McDonald believes Marty’s experience will bring victories to the Huskies, among other things.
“Most importantly, his knowledge is going to bring an education to these kids. This will give them the chance to get out and go to a four-year school,” McDonald said.
“I think the main thing that this school and program are going to benefit from coach Marty’s experience, is that we are going to see a lot more guys get better grades.”
Marty, who played a variety of sports while growing up, decided to only play football and soccer during high school.
“I ended up playing my junior year as starting quarterback and I fell in love with playing football and decided that it was going to be my main focus.”
Marty said that when he was finishing high school, he had better athletic opportunities as a soccer player, but at the same time, he knew he wanted to be a football coach. He realized in order to do so, he needed to play college football.
After Marty graduated high school, he attended Chapman University where he was the starting quarterback for three seasons.
Once he finished college, he thought he would be coaching right away.
“I was very fortunate to have been offered a contract in Italy playing professionally in the Italian Football League,” Marty said.
He went to play for the Italian football team Bolzano Giants American Football Team that ended as the Italian champion for that season (2009) after having defeated Lazio Marines, 35-21, in the Italian Super Bowl.
This was the first and only time that Bolzano has won the Italian Super Bowl.
Then he went on to play in Austria for the following season where he also won a championship.
Since football season in Europe is played in the spring, Marty had the chance to come back to the U.S. to be an assistant coach at his former high school during fall and winter. This is where his coaching career began.
Marty played in Europe from 2009-2012 before coming back to the U.S. to coach for the Oklahoma Aggies.