Path to McMartin’s Dreams Led Him Home

In private moments, the idea used to get a laugh from Jeff ’90 and Laurie Rieken McMartin ’90. That somehow the twisting path in Jeff’s determined pursuit of a college football head coaching job — spawned at Central College so many years ago — would eventually wind its way back to that same rural Iowa campus with the pond.

“Laurie and I always joked when were dating at Central that we would retire to Central someday,” McMartin says. “We just got here a lot earlier than retirement. We thought we’d move to Pella after my coaching career was over. We always liked Pella and we liked Central. This place has a lot of good memories in our world.”

Having two daughters — Caroline ’24 and Emily ’26 — grow up around the campus and thrive as Central students and athletes stretched even further than any dreams Jeff and Laurie entertained.

From Coached to Coach

Any notion that the quiet defensive-back-turned-student-assistant would someday trod the same sidelines as the coach the Central stadium is named for, American Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer Ron Schipper, was not one he ever considered. Nor did his Dutch teammates back then, said Central trustee Clay Thompson ’90, who recalls his initial impressions as a fellow former defensive back.

“D-backs tend to have a certain flashy personality and I can remember sitting around that room as a freshman just trying to figure out who’s who and I looked at Jeff,” Thompson says. “He just kind of kept to himself but he was clearly comfortable with who he was and was a super nice guy. I thought, ‘That’s a guy I can relate to.’”

McMartin was not a clone of the boisterous Schipper, whose whereabouts were never a mystery, with his voice booming across the practice field. Personality oozed out of every pore of Schipper’s body as he coaxed the Dutch through 36 championship-drenched seasons (1961-96) with boundless energy and a combination of determination and Dutch stubbornness.

The differences seemed stark to McMartin, who saw his college coach as an inspiration, not a personality to emulate.

“I held Coach Schipper in such high esteem that I never tried to be, or thought I could be, like him,” McMartin shares. “I just tried to learn from him and saw him as a great example of how to do things really well and the right way. So, when I got this job, I never felt like I had to try and replicate that. I don’t think you can, and I don’t think you should.”

That recognition impressed Thompson.

“I give him a lot of credit,” Thompson says. “He wasn’t trying to be anything he wasn’t. It would be really tempting in that situation to try to adopt a Ron Schipper persona or try to be something you’re not because that’s obviously what people’s expectations were. But he stayed very authentic to who he is and through just kind of putting down his head and working hard, made himself successful.”

That work ethic and belief in the value of preparation are among the traits McMartin does share with his beloved mentor. His résumé reads like a head football coaching tutorial. After an initial stint as a graduate assistant at Wake Forest University while pursuing a master’s degree, McMartin bounded from Illinois Wesleyan University to the University of Rochester, Beloit College and DePauw University. Along the way, he coached defensive line, offensive line and special teams, then took on an offensive coordinator role. McMartin served as a cross country and track and field assistant coach, and later, head coach, as preparation tools.

“He put himself in uncomfortable situations because he appreciated that was the best way to learn,” Thompson explains. “That’s something I’ve seen in great leaders. They’re willing to go out and test themselves.”

Keys to Success

Books on coaching and leadership crowd McMartin’s office bookshelf. An eager student in American Football Coaches Association professional development sessions, he’s quickly risen through the ranks to the 12,000-member organization’s board of trustees and is the 2024 president, a role once held by Schipper but precious few other Division III coaches.

“I’ve always looked at myself as a seeker of information,” McMartin says. “I’m willing to learn and to find answers. I’ll ask for directions. I’m willing to go to the grocery store and ask somebody where the Pepsi Cola is.”

Eric Jones ’87, longtime offensive line coach and a major gifts officer at Central, said McMartin doesn’t pretend to have all the answers and is willing to shoulder the blame when things go awry.

“Almost to a fault,” Jones says. “He does a critical evaluation and if things don’t go right, he looks at himself first and says, ‘What do I need to do differently?’ and then expands it out from there.”

Thompson sees that process as a learning tool.

“It echoes something I’ve heard him say at practice the couple times I hung around, which is ‘Mistakes are OK, mistakes are how you learn,’” he says. “You don’t hear him railing on players when they mess up, it’s more, how do we teach them in this moment and get better?”

It’s that openness to change that Jones sees as a key to McMartin’s success.

“It’s his ability to adapt and take a look at the resources we have and find out where we’re deficient and attack those deficiencies, but also not allow those deficiencies to hold us back,” Jones explains.

After his years as an assistant, McMartin was ready, yet caught off guard when the Central football job opened in 2004, and unsure whether to apply.

“I thought, well, this would be my first head football coaching job, it’s at my alma mater and they’ve been pretty good for a long time,” he recalls. “Laurie was very encouraging, saying, ‘Give it a shot. Do your best and, if you’re going to do it, have a little fun with it — enjoy the journey and don’t make this a miserable experience.’”

Twenty years later, McMartin is the 10th-winningest active coach in Division III with a 155-48 (.763) mark. He was named the 2021 AFCA Division III Coach of the Year after Central’s sixth conference title and NCAA playoff berth on his watch.

A Legacy of Excellence

That’s almost as rewarding as now seeing his daughters in Central uniforms. Caroline is a two-time cross country all-America honoree, placing 12th at last fall’s Division III meet. She’s received all-America distinction three more times in indoor track and field and once outdoors. Meanwhile, Emily is a conference track and field place winner as a sprinter. Both shine even brighter in the classroom where Caroline carries a 3.98 grade point average and Emily has a 4.0.

Despite the fact that by age 3 Caroline could entertain family guests by singing the chorus to Central’s fight song, both she and her sister considered attending other colleges.

“We wanted them to pick it for themselves and make sure it was the right choice,” McMartin shares. “And I think for both of them, with what they’re majoring in and want to do career-wise, Central has been a great choice, and the athletics piece has been a great choice as well. They have grown a lot, contributed to their teams and built great relationships, which are all things you hope for when your son or daughter goes to college.”

Spending time on other campuses, and then returning to Central as a coach years later brings a different perspective than McMartin had as a student.

“I see changes, but I don’t see dramatic changes to who we are as a college back when I was in school,” he says. “I see a lot more similarities than I see differences. We still have great coaches, and our students and faculty are amazing. Our professors see things in our students that they don’t see in themselves sometimes. I give our faculty a lot of credit for really wanting to get to know these students, working with them and helping them bring out their best.”

And it’s the academic side of Central that often drives family conversations.

“My two daughters come home and talk to me about nothing but what they’re learning,” McMartin says. “They’re really inspired and they get excited when they talk about their classes. How many colleges have students coming home to their parents excited about what they’re learning, some book they have to read for class or the interaction they have with their professors?”

McMartin wants to see that same zest for learning in his football players.

Push to Potential

“I hear it all the time,” says Tanner Schminke ’21, assistant coach, admission counselor and a former All-American wide receiver. “We care about academics more than athletics. You’re never going to hear him tell you, ‘Hey, miss this class so you can make a meeting.’ He’s always focused on your academics. Football is a bonus. We care about that, too, but we want you to succeed in your everyday life first.”

McMartin is on an endless quest to improve.

“Just sitting in meetings with him, you can tell he is very passionate not only about wanting the team to win but wanting individuals to win as well,” Schminke shares. “He’s got a lot of drive; you can hear it in his voice. You definitely hear it as a player. But he’s pushing us coaches to be better, too.”

Schminke appreciates the prodding because he knows what’s behind it.

“You don’t push people to reach their full potential if you don’t love them,” he says. “It’s really easy to work for a coach who cares about the place and about you as a person.”

Opportunities for McMartin to coach elsewhere arise with each winning football season. But elsewhere wouldn’t be Central.

“I really do love Central,” McMartin affirms. “I love the culture here, I love what it does for students and what it stands for. I have great memories of a lot of positive experiences with my coaches, my professors and also my fellow students. I’ll always have a love for Central because of that. To have a chance to be a part of the fabric of this place and help others have a good experience here has always been a really important part to me.”

The day to leave his alma mater will come for McMartin, but not yet.

“I think that having a sense of when you feel like the job is done, or it’s ready for a new voice, a new set of eyes or whatever, then it’s time, but I just have not gotten to those points yet,” McMartin says. “It’s not that someone else couldn’t do a good job. But I haven’t gotten to a point where I feel like I’ve completed what I was asked to do. I want to leave the jersey in a better place just like we ask our players to do. I want to feel like when I’m done here, I’m doing just that.”

Alumni Coaches Continue Legacy

Former Indiana State University softball coach Brenda Vigness Coldren ’89 lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and provides private instruction for a limited number of top pitchers in the Atlanta area.

Yet she makes the 800-mile journey to Pella multiple times a year to serve as Central College’s pitching coach.

Coldren, a pitcher on Central’s 1988 NCAA Division III championship squad, insists she’s repaying an old debt.

“I want to make sure these players are taught the same life lessons we learned while I was playing here and that we use to better the world,” Coldren says. “Being able to come back here and help the community that shaped me was huge for me.”

For many of the 37 grads on the athletics staff, their own life-altering Central experience was part of the inspiration that drove them to share it with others.

“Central was transformational in my life,” says Eric Jones ’87, Central’s longtime football offensive line coach. Jones has touched nearly every corner of campus in his tenure. “As dysfunctional as I was growing up, Central showed me there are ways to have stability in your life and core values that I always appreciated. When I worked elsewhere, I enjoyed it, but didn’t always feel like my values aligned. I almost felt like I was a mercenary. I believe what we say all the time, that we do things right. There’s no better way of delivering education than the way we do it.”

Head Men’s Basketball Coach Joe Steinkamp ’03 served as an assistant, then as head women’s basketball coach before taking over the men’s program. Being at Central is more important to Steinkamp than the role.

“I just love the people here,” he says. “I love the community and the sense of pride. I think our athletes have a great set-up here with how many people care about them. There are a lot of alumni that work at Central and in Pella and I think our student-athletes really feel that presence. It just means a lot to me that I’m able to coach the program that I played for and care so much about.”

These head coaches are among the many at Central who are Forever Dutch^®:

• Adam Carey ’19, baseball
• Jennie Hedrick-Rozenberg ’06, triathlon
• Mike Kobylinski ’03, women’s soccer
• Jeff McMartin ’90, football
• Joe Steinkamp ’03, men’s basketball
• George Wares ’76, softball

Athletics Updates

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Center Joshua Van Gorp ’24 was named to the NABC All-America team for the second time, receiving second-team honors and was the American Rivers MVP as well. Slowed by injury, Central was 17-9 overall and 11-5 in conference play, narrowly missing an NCAA tourney berth.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Guard Abby Johnson ’25 was a first-team all-conference pick while center Allison Van Gorp ’24 received honorable mention. The Dutch were 11-14 overall and 5-11 in conference play.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: The Dutch women were 13th at the NCAA Division III meet in Virginia Beach, Virginia, while the men tied for 38th. Caroline McMartin ’24, Abbi Roerdink ’24, Peyton Steffen ’26 and Megan Johnson ’24 finished second in the distance medley relay; Johnson was sixth in the 3,000 meters; Olivia Bohlen ’26 was sixth in the pentathlon; and McMartin was eighth in the mile. Noah Jorgenson ’24 was fourth in the men’s mile. Central’s women came in third at the conference meet and the men finished fourth.

WRESTLING: Pierre Baldwin ’26 and Gage Linahon ’24 gained NCAA tournament berths at 141 and 197 pounds, respectively. Central finished with a 12-4 mark. Former Wartburg assistant Landon Williams was named Central’s new head coach after the season. Eric Van Kley hung up his whistle and clipboard after 17 years to join Central’s senior leadership team as vice president for athletics.

For an up-to-date schedule of all sports, visit athletics.central.edu/calendar.