New Mexico State coach Doug Martin strongly denies mistreatment, racism allegations
New Mexico State football coach Doug Martin vehemently denied recent racism and mistreatment allegations made against him on Wednesday, calling them “ridiculous,” according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.
An official complaint against Martin was filed last month month, sparking an investigation. According to the Sun-News, the complaint accused Martin of conducting practices under “dangerous conditions,” making student-athletes play injured and prohibiting them from visiting the training staff and using “intimidating and threatening” behavior, among other things. The complaint also contained multiple allegations of “disparate treatment of minority athletes, nepotism and hiring disparities.”
The investigation is still ongoing.
“During the first week in November 2019, this office and the NMSU Office of the Chancellor began a preliminary investigation after receiving an external complaint directed toward the conduct of its head football coach,” New Mexico State general counsel Roy Collins wrote in a letter earlier this month, via the Sun-News. “Additionally, the NMSU Human Resources Services office has disclosed confidentially that it has examined a prior complaint regarding nepotism within the NMSU athletics department under the leadership of that coach.
Martin — who took over for the Aggies in 2013 — has compiled a 22-63 record over seven seasons at New Mexico State. He led the Aggies to just a 2-10 record this year, and has only been to one bowl game during his time in Las Cruces.
The 56-year-old strongly denied the allegations made against him, saying they stem from one upset parent of a player who has been “threatening me all year long.”
“This is a ridiculous allegation that will be proven false by players and trainers and everyone around here,” Martin said in a statement, via the Sun-News. “It comes from a single disgruntled parent who has a kid that was not getting to play. They have been threatening me all year long that if their kid didn’t play they had friends who could get me fired. They have used racial slurs saying I treat black players better than other players. This will all come out in the end to be false.”
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