Chuck Martin named head coach of Palmer High boys basketball program

PALMER — When his career path shifted to administration, Chuck Martin knew he’d miss coaching. But the longtime basketball mentor didn’t realize exactly how much.

Now after a sudden opportunity, Martin is headed back to the hardwood. Martin, a longtime high school and college basketball coach with tremendous ties to the Valley, has been named the head coach of the Palmer High School boys basketball program.

“It just came on so fast,” Martin said Monday afternoon, after accepting the position that morning.

Martin, currently a first-year activities director at Wasilla High School with nearly 30 years of coaching experience to his credit, said he had not pursued any coaching opportunities since accepting his role at WHS prior to the 2014-15 school year. But after a chance conversation with Palmer High School activities director Dale Ewart last week, Martin suddenly found himself with a possible route back to the court. Martin said he asked about the, then vacant, basketball position. Six days later, Martin accepted the job as head coach.

“I really missed coaching this year,” Martin said. “For me, this was the first time in 28 years without having a team. Honestly, last summer I thought being an (activities director) is what I wanted to do. I didn’t think I’d be out (of coaching) forever, but I felt like maybe I could take a break.”

Martin said he struggled with the decision about whether to leave Wasilla High in favor of a opportunity to coach again, appreciating the chance Wasilla High took when they hired him as the activities director.

“I love working at Wasilla. I love working for Amy,” Martin said of the school, and its principal, Amy Spargo. “I love everything she does, trying to build the school, do right by the kids, (assistant principal Jeff Nelles) too.

“I really struggled with (the decision), trying to decide if I really wanted to do it.”

Before last week, Martin said, he had not put any serious consideration into any coaching position.

“I wasn’t looking for a job. I wasn’t waiting for the first job in Alaska to open up. I hadn’t thought about the Palmer job. I hadn’t thought about any job,” Martin said.

With the coaching gig, Martin also accepted a teaching position in the school’s physical education department. Both jobs opened when former Palmer High boys basketball coach Brandon Blake announced last month his retirement from both teaching and coaching.

“It came together well,” Ewart said. “Having the P.E. job, coaching job open at the same time, that doesn’t happen very often. It’s nice to have that opportunity to get a teacher and a coach in the building.”

Of his 28 years in coaching, Martin spent half that time in the Valley. In a combined 14 years, with stops at three Valley schools (Houston, Colony and Wasilla) Martin compiled a 283-89 career mark. He coached Valley teams to eight conference titles, 12 state tournament appearances and a pair of state championships. He was named the Northern Lights Conference Coach of the Year three times, and the Alaska State Coach of the Year three times.

“I think it’s big for the program,” Ewart said of Martin’s experience. “We’re excited about the program as it is because of the youth in the program. With the experience and knowledge he brings, it adds to that excitement.”

Martin also brings more than a decade of experience at the NCAA Division I and NAIA Division I levels.

Before returning to Alaska last summer, Martin was most recently the head men’s basketball coach at The Master’s College in California. Martin spent eight seasons at the school, finishing with a 131-118 overall record with the NAIA Division I program. Prior to coaching at the Santa Clara, California, school, Martin was the associate head coach at Division I Liberty University in Virginia. During his time at Liberty, he helped guide the Flames to a Big South Conference title and a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2004.

Martin’s illustrious high school coaching career in the Valley began in 1987 when he took the helm of the boys basketball program at Houston High School. Martin led the Hawks to a pair of 3A state titles before making the move to Colony in 1991. Martin, the first boys basketball head coach in Colony school history, held the position for six years. He was also the head coach of the Wasilla High boys program from 1998-2002.