Eric Sorenson
After his NFL career ended, Chandler High defensive coordinator Gabe Martin found himself at the, “what’s next?” crossroad in life. On May 1st, 2018 the Arizona Cardinals waive/injured the 6’2, 235-pound linebacker after suffering a torn Achilles during off-season workouts.
Little did Martin know, while one football door was closing another far more fulfilling one, would soon be opening – one that would, eight years later, lead him from playing defense, to calling one.
The Telephone Game
After officially retiring from the NFL, Martin was helping prospects train for the NFL Combine when one of his former Cardinal teammates, Xavier Williams, suggested he give high school coaching a try.
“I really love it, and you’d love it, too,” Martin recalled Williams saying. “I was like, ‘Okay, whatever (laughing).’
“Hey, Chandler is getting a new coach,” Williams told him. “I told the new guy that they’re hiring that you’d probably be interested. So, I gave him your number.”
Williams worked on former Chandler head coach Rick Garretson’s staff and alerted Ty Wisdom of Martin when Wisdom re-interviewed Garretson’s previous staff during the initial hiring process.
The two clicked immediately and Martin accepted a linebackers coach position with the Wolves last season, Wisdom’s first at CHS.
“Gabe is the definition of a players’ coach,” Wisdom said. “He builds genuine relationships, earns trust, and gets the very best out of everyone around him….he’s knowledgable, dependable, and authentic.
“The relationships he builds are the
Their synergy was evident immediately.
“When he was building his staff, he said he wanted to build a staff with guys he’d want to [hang out with],” Martin explained. “I thought that was cool. Seeing as how that’s how he wanted to build his staff, to me it meant we were going to build a family. Then, from there, we’re going to build this into something special.
“From the family comes the culture, and from the culture comes the wins.”
The next chapter started after Steve Huber left to become the head coach at Queen Creek High in February. Martin was elevated to defensive coordinator and his bond with Wisdom has continued to grow.
The Standard doesn’t change. The Defense just leveled up! @GabeMartin50 @chandler_wolves @SOC_CHSWOLVES @CUSDAthletics pic.twitter.com/kpSVd0sUaC
— Ty Wisdom (@Coach_Wiz3) February 17, 2026
“We’ve had a couple stand-offs already this year, where we’re [yelling] back and forth at each other but I don’t care,” said Martin. “We have the same goal. It’s all out of love for each other, love for the game, and love for the kids. We dap up and keep pushing because iron sharpens iron.
I love this Team 🐺 #INAM
— Ty Wisdom (@Coach_Wiz3) June 28, 2026
“We’re ready to go through the fire together.”
SEC Mentorship
Martin knew during his three-year starting career at Bowling Green University the staff he played for would do big things in the future.
Fast forward to present day, his defensive coordinator was Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko and his linebackers coach, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea – two of the most well-respected minds in college football, who have worked tirelessly for their successes on SEC sidelines.
Martin, who spoke to both before taking the position this off-season, has incorporated each of their styles into his current role.
From Elko, it’s X’s and O’s. From Lea, more of the coaching management side.
“Mike Elko was the smartest coach that I’d ever been around,” said Martin. “A genius. He knew most of the time what the offensive coach was thinking before he thought it…the man went to Penn. He’s smart as [expletive].
“Coach Elko is kind of where a lot of my philosophies are from when it comes to calling a defense.
“Lea helped me reverse engineer [my position as a defensive coordinator]. He said, ‘If you’re going to do this, this is how you have to do it. This is how you operate a meeting. This is how you work with your coaches. This is how you set expectations for them so they can help set expectations for the players so you’re all on the same page.’”
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
High-level 6A football in Arizona is played with pace and tempo.
Schemes are complex and teams are talented.
This off-season Martin has, in some ways, worked in reverse with his new install.
“As we’re preparing, there are days when I’ll put the kids in awful situations, he noted. “There’s no way we’d run some of this stuff in these situations. But, to me, if we can practice our rules in bad situations, and we communicate our way out of it, we give ourselves a chance.”
Martin continued.
“If I can teach you to communicate and fight out of the worst, when we start playing and we put you in better situations, the game will start to be easier. That’s my approach to what we’re doing. If we can learn to be where we need to be when things aren’t in our favor, when we start to put things in our favor, everything seems easier.
You deserve everything you’ve earned. Nothing more nothing less. Entitlement got y’all forgetting the part where you put in the work.
— Gabe Martin (@GabeMartin50) August 23, 2020
“We’re learning to make plays in bad situations so, when we’re in good situations, now the expectation changes.”
Martin believes the mental teaching approach holds as much significance as the physical aspect between the lines.
“I had a coach once tell me, ‘We have to be who we are,’” he recalled. “In order to be who you are, you have to know who you are first, right? Now, I feel like we know who we are, so let’s get really good at those things and then we can execute at a high level.”
Practicing against Wisdom’s tempo offense, spear-headed by star senior quarterback Will Mencl, ups the learning curve ante even more.
“If it works against Will, we should be alright [against most teams],” Martin said. “He makes us work a little bit. It’s cool to watch him work because he’s truly a student of the game.
“He makes us better every single day. The throws that he can make…sometimes he makes a throw and I’m like, ‘No way another quarterback can make that. Don’t worry about it!’
“Will is special. Going up against that every single day makes my job harder and easier.”
His True Calling
Martin’s initial skepticism towards coaching has, in many ways, turned into a personal and gratifying transformation.
“One of the most rewarding things is when a player comes up to me after an interception and says, ‘Coach, just like you said. All I had to do was this!,’” he explained. “He runs straight over to me after he gets to the sideline and says, ‘Thank you, Coach.’
“I got goosebumps.”
Last season he quickly realized the bigger picture wasn’t just about making his players improve under the Friday Night Lights, it was about providing life lessons through leadership and mentoring.
The greatest thing you can do in this life is be your genuine self and show love. Man that shit feels good. Take some time and make somebody smile today 🙏🏾
— Gabe Martin (@GabeMartin50) January 4, 2020
“This is all therapy to me,” continued Martin. “You go from playing at the highest level to not playing anymore, you deal with your own real life up’s and downs, mentally.
“It’s all about finding your purpose and mom always said mine was all about helping kids. What I’m here for is bigger than football.”
