LINCOLN - For Lincoln head coach Chad Martin, getting the interim tag taken off last December was a dream come true.

“When he (Principal Terry Roller) said it, it was an unbelievable feeling,” Martin said. “I always wanted to be the head coach at Lincoln High School. Of course not the way that it occurred.

“In life we can’t choose how things happen. We just have to be ready when it’s time to do something. I told him of course, I’d love to do it.”

Martin recalls the pre-game speech about taking advantage of opportunities he gave before their season opener. He didn’t know the speech he gave would apply to him later on that night.

“In pre-game I was talking about opportunities,” Martin said. “You never know what’s going to come your way. You have to be able to overcome adversity in life, and what happens on the field. I said if something happens, if you’re a second string player you are one play away from being a starter.

“If you are a third team player you are two plays away from being a starter… Little did I know when I was talking about adversity, and you may be the next one to step in to become that guy, I was speaking to myself.”

Being prepared when opportunity presents itself is what Martin has preached to his team. Last season Martin said one his former players stepped up and made a huge name for himself because he was prepared when opportunity presented it self.

“It’s amazing how the Lord works,” Martin said. “I gave an example of a guy that we had the previous year, Jonathan George, who was our third team tailback starting week one. After week one he was our starting tailback, because DJ (Howard) got banged up and Tiger (Williams) got banged up.

“Look what he did with the opportunity. He became an SEC tailback. If those things had not occurred he wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity. I tell the kids that’s a guy that prepared himself.

“He was ready to do what needed to be done when he was called upon. Not only did he exceed expectations, he is going to make a bigger name for himself than we ever thought he would have. Little did I know four hours later I would be the next one.”

Martin also has the responsibility of being the athletic director at Lincoln High School. The coach feels like it is a blessing to be over dedicated students and one of the best facilities in the state of Alabama.

“Where we want to be, we are not there yet,” Martin said. ”We going to add a 4,000 square foot weight room and visitor dressing room in our indoor facility. We have our community to thank for that.

“We are getting a new track, we putting up lights around the softball field, we are going to have a baseball field, and tennis courts. It is amazing the things that Lincoln has and the things that we are working towards having in the near future. Being able to be from Lincoln and to be able to be in charge and see it occur, it’s mind blowing.

“It is an exciting time.”

In his first season at the helm the Golden Bears finished with a 7-4 record. After winning their first two games of the season, Lincoln struggled. The Golden Bears lost three of their next four games.

“When you first get the job as interim head coach you are trying to win to keep your job,” Martin said. “After week five I didn’t care. I was like, I am going to do it my way, do what I thought was best for Lincoln High School and our staff. We had a team meeting on Monday and I told the kids, don’t expect it to change in one week. We go play Saks; they went up on us 21-0.

“I told the kids at halftime, I told you last Monday that it’s not going to change in one week. We have to start making progress from this moment on. The final score was 21-0; it was a tale of two halves. From that point forward there was a complete change in our program. It is something that I can measure because there were things that we tweaked a little bit because it was things I thought we needed to do at that time.

“We go to week seven, we played Central-Coosa and win big. Week eight we beat Anniston, who has a good program. We came out and played against Anniston. It was what I envisioned our kids could possibly do. Week nine we played Munford, the kids played hard again.

“In the Clay County game I saw a difference in our kids. This was a different team that played Clay County the past four years. Their entire demeanor was different. They believed in themselves and what we were doing.

“After week six we began working out five days a week. We changed practice time; we change our whole workout. We played unbelievable, lights out.”

Martin believes that he is fortunate to have such a supportive administration and dedicated coaching staff.

“I have great support from the administration,” Martin said. “Our assistant coaches do a tremendous job. People of Lincoln are so fortunate to have the assistant coaches that we have and the head coaches of other sports that we have. These guys work tirelessly to make these kids better. They go above and beyond. It amazes me; you come by anytime and there is always somebody here practicing something up until 7 or 7:30 p.m. every night.”

The passion and love that Martin has for what he is doing makes coming to work enjoyable.”

“It was a dream of mine,” Martin said. “I love coming to work. This is not even work; it’s just who I am. This is part of my life, Lincoln High School. I wake up every morning excited. I leave a lot of times late at night. I never feel like man I have to hurry and get finished up, because it is four o’clock. It’s time to go. A lot times I look at the clock and it 7 or 7:30 p.m. I’ll say, my goodness it’s time to go. I love what I am doing. It is not a job, it’s who I am and what I love.”