After nine years leading the Massachusetts Institute of Technology football program to unprecedented success, Chad Martinovich was named the new head football coach at the University of Rochester in 2018.
During his seven years (six seasons) with Rochester, Martinovich (pronounced mar-TIN-oh-vitch) has had 43 all-conference performers in the Liberty League. UR's student athletes also excelled in the classroom, with 58 players being honored by the Liberty League All-Academic selections.
The 2024 season proved to be UR's best season yet under Martinovich, as the 'Jackets opened the year with five-straight wins, and finished with a 6-5 (2-4 Liberty League) record, the most wins since 2007 and Rochester's best record since 2015. The Yellowjackets made their first bowl appearance since 2007, and just the fourth in program history, playing in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl at SUNY Brockport, while 11 'Jackets earned All-Liberty League honors, a trio earned D3football.com All-Region honors and two received All-America recognition, including consensus First-Team All-American Jordy Tawa, who was recognized as a First-Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association, the Associated Press, D3football.com and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Additionally, 27 Yellowjackets were recognized with Liberty League All-Academic honors, while another seven were selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team.
The 2023 campaign saw the Yellowjackets go 5-5 (2-4 LL) against one of the top-10 toughest schedules in the country. 10 'Jackets earned All-Liberty League honors, including two first-teamers who also earned D3football.com All-Region honors, while 22 were named to the Liberty League All-Academic squad.
In 2022, Rochester finished 3-7 (1-5 LL) and had one of the best ground games in the country, led by junior running back Daniel Papantonis '24, who was named a 2nd Team All-American by the AFCA. Two players were named All-Region by D3football.com, and eight were All-Liberty League. The Yellowjackets eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing total for just the 11th time in the history of the program. Additionally, 30 individuals were honored as Liberty League All-Academic, eight were CSC Academic All-District and seven garnered Hampshire Honor Society awards.
The 2021 season saw the Yellowjackets finish with three wins and have seven All-Liberty League performers, with senior Nicholas Petruzziello being named to the D3football.com All-Region team and a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Prior to joining Rochester, Martinovich served as the head coach at MIT for nine seasons (2009-17). During that time, he steadily built the MIT program into a successful unit. MIT won the New England Football Conference (NEFC) Championship in 2014, earned its first NCAA Division III playoff berth, and advanced to the second round after a first-round win at Husson University. The final record was 10-1.
Following the 2014 season, he was named NEFC Coach of the Year, New England Football Writers College Division Coach of the Year, ECAC Coach of the Year, and the American Football Coaches Association Region I Division III Coach of the Year.
In the 2017 season, he directed MIT to success on both the gridiron and in the classroom. MIT was 7-3 overall, 5-2 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). The Engineers were tied for third in the nation in fewest sacks allowed (five). The team averaged 26.8 points per game and almost 400 yards of total offense per game.
During his nine years in Cambridge, MIT football players earned 17 CoSIDA Academic All-America® awards, including seven selections to the First Team. The MIT quarterback was named the 2017 CoSIDA Division III Football Academic All-American of the Year.
From a football standpoint at MIT, he coached two All-Americans, 16 All-Region players, four All-New England performers, and 63 All-Conference players.
His arrival at Rochester brings him back to roots in Western New York State. Martinovich
graduated from Hobart College in June, 1994 where he played football. He had coaching stops at Bucknell University (1994-95), Hamilton College (1995-97), and the University at Albany (1997-98). In July, 1998, he joined the coaching staff at Swarthmore College as Offensive Coordinator and remained there until April, 2001.
Martinovich returned to Hamilton College in April 2001 for a three-year stint as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach. He also served as an assistant professor of physical education.
He moved to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in June, 2004. He was the Offensive Coordinator for one season before being named the Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs coach in December, 2004. His RPI defense ranked first in the Liberty League for three straight years. RPI played in the 2007 NCAA Division III tournament and was crowned an ECAC Bowl Champion on three other occasions.
Martinovich currently resides in Brighton with his wife Erin, and their children, Hailey and Tyler.
Twitter: @ChadMartinovich
| YEAR BY YEAR COACHING RECORD |
|
|
OVERALL |
CONFERENCE |
|
| YEAR |
SCHOOL |
WIN |
LOSS |
WIN |
LOSS |
POSTSEASON |
| 2009 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
1 |
8 |
1 |
6 |
None |
| 2010 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
1 |
8 |
0 |
7 |
None |
| 2011 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
2 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
None |
| 2012 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
None |
| 2013 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
6 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
None |
| 2014 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
10 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
NCAA 2nd Round |
| 2015 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
2 |
8 |
2 |
5 |
None |
| 2016 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
3 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
None |
| 2017 |
Mass. Inst. of Technology |
7 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
None |
|
MIT TOTALS |
37 |
49 |
27 |
38 |
1 NCAA Appearance |
| 2018 |
University of Rochester |
1 |
9 |
0 |
5 |
None |
| 2019 |
University of Rochester |
0 |
10 |
0 |
6 |
None |
| No 2020 season played due to COVID-19 Pandemic. |
| 2021 |
University of Rochester |
3 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
None |
| 2022 |
University of Rochester |
3 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
None |
| 2023 |
University of Rochester |
5 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
None |
| 2024 |
University of Rochester |
6 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl |
|
ROCHESTER TOTALS |
18 |
43 |
6 |
29 |
0 NCAA Appearances |
|
ROCHESTER PERCENT |
.295 |
.171 |
|
|
GRAND TOTAL |
55 |
92 |
33 |
67 |
1 NCAA Appearance |
|
PERCENT |
.374 |
.330 |
|
(updated 1/2025)
