LINCOLN – Chad Martin puts the phone receiver back in its cradle and looks at the reporter with a tired smile. Sitting behind the desk in the head coach’s office at Lincoln High School, the 32-year-old Lincoln native appeared to be still settling into his new role as interim head coach for the Golden Bears. Martin’s had little time to think about Thursday’s game against region foe Cleburne County, what with talking with reporters from around the state, comforting players and students and dealing with last minute details surrounding the new turf being installed on the field. He also hasn’t had much time to grieve for the loss of his friend.

“It’s been a crazy weekend,” Martin said Tuesday, just hours before Keith Howard’s memorial service was to take place at the stadium soon to be named after the veteran coach. “It’s been an emotional weekend for us. There have been times when I’ve just sat and just been completely overwhelmed by all that has transpired since Friday night at 8 o’clock.

“I don’t think it’s officially hit me yet because I’ve been so busy. I’ve had to help to finish stuff that needed to be done and stuff that I had no idea about because Coach Howard took care of all of the building stuff. That was his baby.”

And now it’s all his. Martin, who has coached football for 15 years and spent 11 of them at Lincoln, said he has mixed emotions about taking over the program he’s been a part of for so long.

“I’ve been a little overwhelmed with all of that, but it’s been a good thing because it’s kept my mind off of the huge task that we have at hand here,” Martin said. “I think Thursday night is when it’s probably going to be the reality of it all.

“It’s crazy. You’re excited because you get a chance to lead a program, a great program. And then you’re so disappointed and heart broken because your best friend is not there to watch.”

Howard and Martin had talked about the younger man taking over the program at Lincoln. Neither of them planned for it to be this soon, and Howard planned to still be around to watch his friend coach the program he’s built to what it is today.

“We talked about this day of me taking over,” Martin said. “Keith used to say ‘I’m going to sit up there in those stands and I’m going to holler stuff at you all night long.’ What’s so funny is I can just imagine that. I can just see him now. Now I guess he’ll do it from heaven now. I still think he’s going to be hollering stuff at me.”

Martin said he doesn’t think his players have fully grasped the entirety of Howard dying, but they don’t have regrets of not telling Howard how they felt about him.

“They have understood that what happened is tragic,” Martin said. “They’re learning life is so short. And more than anything we’ve learned to tell people how you feel about them right now. With Keith though, we did it. Our football family, we did that quite often. It’s amazing. I’ve had coaches tell me all the time, ‘I hear y’all say I love you more than anybody I’ve ever been around.’ We tell our kids that probably every day. We probably tell four, five or six kids that every day, at least. I think we did a good job of that.

“I think that’s helped a lot. We were able to show a lot of our love for each other and not be like I wish I would have said this, I wish I would have said that. Keith knew how most of us felt about him. And we all knew how he felt about us.”

The Golden Bears haven’t practiced this week other than a walk-through on Sunday and a practice under the lights after the memorial service Tuesday night, but Martin said the players and coaches all need to get back on the field.

“It’s what our players need,” Martin said. “It’s what our coaching staff needs. I know I need it.

“I’m ready to do what my whole life’s ambition is and that is to coach kids. That’s why I got in this business and that’s what I’m ready to do. Blow the whistle, hear them pads hitting, just getting involved.

“We’re going to play and our kids are going to play hard. That’s all we can ask; that’s all we’ve ever asked of them. The x’s and o’s a lot of times are way overrated.

“It’s about building relationships with each other and loving your teammates so much that you’re going to lay your guts out for them. That’s what we’re going to do on Thursday night. We’re going to lay it out for Coach Howard.”