Southeastern Conference veteran Willie Martinez, who owns more than 30 years of coaching experience and has produced five NFL Draft picks in the last three drafts combined, enters his sixth season at Tennessee and third on Josh Heupel’s UT staff.
Born: Feb. 21, 1963
Hometown: Hollywood Hills, Florida
Education: Miami, 1985
Wife: Kim
Children: Christina, Ashley, William
In total as both a coach and player, Martinez has been a part of 24 bowl game appearances and six conference championships, including multiple SEC titles at Georgia. He played on Miami’s 1983 national championship team. Over the last 20 seasons, Martinez has mentored 22 all-conference selections, seven All-America performers and numerous NFL Draft picks. The 2023 season will be his 17th in the SEC.
Martinez’s return in 2021 saw defensive backs Theo Jackson and Alontae Taylor enjoy the best season of their careers before embarking on the NFL. Jackson, playing the Vols’ STAR position, earned second-team All-SEC honors by the league’s coaches after finishing with 78 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 12 pass breakups and one interception returned for a touchdown. He tied for the SEC lead among defensive backs in tackles for loss and ranked second in the SEC and top 15 in the nation in pass breakups.
Meanwhile, Taylor registered 60 tackles, six pass breakups and two picks at cornerback, including one for a touchdown that helped lift the Vols past No. 18 Kentucky on the road. Taylor also recorded an interception as an invitee in the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Under Martinez’s leadership, Tennessee produced multiple defensive back draft picks in the first six rounds of a draft for the first time since 2000 when Jackson and Taylor heard their names called in April 2022. Taylor went pick No. 49 overall in the second round to the New Orleans Saints, while Jackson’s hometown Tennessee Titans took him in the sixth round at pick No. 204. The Vols were one of only three SEC programs and eight teams nationally to produce multiple defensive backs in the entire 2022 NFL Draft.
The 2022 season saw Tennessee post 11 victories and cap the year with a win over ACC champion Clemson. Martinez’s unit overcame multiple injuries throughout the year, and the Vols still managed to force the second-most turnovers in the SEC with 22 and rank top four in the league in interceptions with 11. Senior safety Trevon Flowers was selected as a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award.
Martinez also served as the Volunteers’ assistant head coach and secondary coach from 2013-16, helping oversee a team that included All-Americans Cameron Sutton and Evan Berry in 2015. During his previous UT tenure, the Vols culminated back-to-back nine-win seasons with victories in the 2016 Outback Bowl and 2016 Music City Bowl.
Martinez mentored Sutton, who became a shutdown corner and set the school career record for passes defended (37) before being selected in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. A 2017 Reese’s Senior Bowl participant, Sutton played six seasons with the Steelers before signing a three-year, $33 million contract with the Detroit Lions in March 2023. Martinez also coached Emmanuel Moseley for three seasons, including a sophomore campaign in which he led the team with 11 pass breakups. Moseley went on to an NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers and then signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the Lions in March 2023, reuniting with his former teammate Sutton.