A month or so before the start of his first spring practice in the Queen City, Luke Fickell has put the finishing touches on his first coaching staff at Cincinnati.
Willie Martinez has been added as the Bearcats’ cornerbacks coach, the school announced, filling the final spot on Fickell’s nine-man on-field coaching group. Martinez had spent the past four seasons as the defensive backs coach at Tennessee, although the Vols opted to go in another direction last month.
“I’m very excited to bring Willie and his family to Cincinnati,” Fickell said. “I promised our team we would put together an outstanding staff to lead them and we have done that. Early in this journey, we talked to our players about taking a leap of faith and that is true of our coaching staff as well. You can go up and down the list of our coaches and you see great teachers, great motivators and great men.
“Our next step is to get spring football started and make an impact while continuing to lead our student-athletes to success.”
Counting his time in Knoxville, Martinez spent 14 of the past 16 seasons in the SEC. Nine of those came at Georgia (2001-09), including a five-year tour as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
After two years at Oklahoma, Martinez was at Auburn for the 2012 season.