Blythewood High School promotes defensive coordinator to head football coach role
Blythewood High School has its new football coach.
The Bengals promoted defensive coordinator James Martin to be the school’s new coach. The move was approved Tuesday at the Richland 2 school board meeting. Martin is the eighth coach in school history. Blythewood’s first year of football was in 2006.
Martin replaces Jason Seidel, who was dismissed March 1 after five seasons. No reason was given for Seidel’s dismissal. The Bengals were coming off their first region championship since 2012 and won 10 games.
“We are excited to be able to keep Coach Martin in the Bengal family,” Blythewood principal Matt Sherman said in a school release. “The passion and experience he brought to the program last season played a role in the success the team was able to accomplish. We hold high expectations for our Bengal Football Program – on and off of the field. We are confident Coach Martin’s vision for our student-athletes will help propel the program to new heights.”
Martin held his first team meeting on Wednesday and has individual meetings set with players after they return from Spring Break. Spring football begins in May and each team is allowed to have 15 practices.
“We are getting things ready with install and everything so we will be ready to go for spring football,” Martin said.
Under Martin, Blythewood (10-2) had one of the top defenses in the state and allowed just 12.7 points a game. The Bengals had three shutouts, including their first-round playoff game against Boiling Springs.
This will be Martin’s third head coaching opportunity. He was head coach at Northwestern High in Rock Hill from 2017-18.
Martin took over on an interim basis at Northwestern in October 2017 after David Pierce was fired and was named full-time coach after the 2017 season. According to the Rock Hill Herald, Martin resigned in April of 2019 after a school board investigation into parents’ complaints about weightlifting regimens. He was not accused of any wrongdoing and remained at the school as a teacher.
Martin was 9-9 as a head coach for the Trojans.
Prior to being named head coach, he served as defensive coordinator beginning in 2012 and was part of two Trojan state championship teams in 2013 and 2015.
After Northwestern, Martin was an offensive assistant at Catawba Ridge in Fort Mill and worked with quarterback Jadyn Davis, a Michigan commit who transferred to Providence Day in North Carolina.
Martin’s first head coaching job came at South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte from 2006-2011. He led South Mecklenburg to the 2008 Class 4A semifinals.
The Bengals return several key players from last year, including defensive lineman Edward Robinson and quarterback Harrison Collins. Robinson set the school’s single-season sack record with 25.
“We want build off the success we had last season and also continue to build relationships with the players,” Martin said. “We got a good group of kids coming back.”
Blythewood’s hire leaves Airport as the only Midlands high school without a football coach. Airport is starting interviews this week to replace Andre Cook, who left to become the Mauldin coach.
In addition to Martin, Blythewood also named Emily McElveen as the school’s new girls basketball coach. McElveen was an assistant this year and replaces Steve Inabinet, who retired.
This is McElveen’s second head coaching job. She was head coach at Richard Winn Academy in Winnsboro from 2021-22. The former Laurence Manning standout played college basketball at Newberry. The Bengals went 15-14 last season but return most of their key players including Region 3-5A Player of Year Chase Thomas.
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School — Former Coach — New Coach
This story was originally published April 5, 2023 at 8:08 AM.
