New Athletics Director Hits The Ground Running

Nick Martin has had to hit the ground running as the new athletics director for the McDonald County School District even though his official starting date is July 1.

Soon after being hired at the June 9 board meeting, Martin suddenly faced replacing two assistant football coaches who resigned shortly after his hiring.

Sean McCullough, who was slated to coach defensive backs in his first year at his alma mater, and John Kurtz, the offensive line coach for the past two years, both left the program for different reasons.

In addition to replacing those two coaches with only a couple of months left before the season begins, Martin must also find a coach for the girls freshman basketball team. Martin is also tasked with overseeing the district's initial foray into soccer.

The boys soccer team will begin play in August, while the girls team will play in the spring. The teams will play at the Loyce Shellnut Soccer Field that will be located near the administration building, but construction has not started as yet.

"Soccer will be a great opportunity for kids who don't play another sport," Martin said. "I want to have a positive impact on all McDonald County sports programs. I am looking forward to the opportunity. I don't care if we start playing water polo in Elk River, I want us to be good."

Some of the challenges of his position have been eased by McDonald County's admittance into the Big 8 Conference last year.

"Being a member of the Big 8 Conference is exciting and a great opportunity for the kids," Martin said. "It makes it easier scheduling-wise, but the big thing is it gives our kids a chance for all-conference recognition, which is something they have not had in the past. We had kids make all conference in baseball this year where kids in the past played all four years and never had that chance."

Martin said the conference schedule is still not ideal, but it will improve when Carl Junction moves to the Central Ozark Conference after the 2015-2016 school year.

Martin, who completed his fourth year as baseball coach at MCHS this year, said the district being so spread out presents a unique set of challenges for all the school's sports teams.

"We need to get more kids out for sports from throughout the community," Martin said. "We need to be sending our student athletes from the high school to Southwest City, Noel, Rocky Comfort, Pineville, Anderson and White Rock as recruiters. I would like to see more continuity from our youth leagues to junior high to high school."

Martin said his goal is for all teams to compete for conference championships on a consistent basis.

"If we can get our numbers up, there is no reason why we can't compete at the top of the Big 8 Conference," Martin said. "We have improved a lot of our facilities and I want to continue to do that. I want to get the community more involved and excited about Mustang athletics."

Martin is a 1997 graduate of McDonald County High school. He played baseball at Crowder College for two years before transferring to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Ark., to complete his college career. He and his wife, Ashlie, live west of Anderson. They have two children, Cole, a sixth-grader, and Carlie, a third-grader, at Anderson Elementary School.

Sports on 06/25/2015