Abilene Wylie found the man it believes will revive the program, and the Bulldogs did not have to look far.
On the heels of longtime head coach Hugh Sandifer’s retirement, Wylie announced Friday that his replacement is coming from in house.
Clay Martin, the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator since 2000, was named the new head football coach and athletic director.
Martin becomes the program’s first head coaching hire since 1986, when Sandifer took over, and along with being the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator, he has been the head baseball coach since 1993, winning the Class 4A state title in 2016 and 2017.
Wylie won the Class 3A, Division I state football championship in 2004 behind current Washington Redskins backup quarterback Case Keenum, and the Bulldogs returned to the title game in 2009 and 2016, losing to Gilmer and Carthage, respectively.
In the years since, however, Wylie struggled.
The Bulldogs went 6-4 in 2017, falling in the opening round of the postseason before losing 18 of their next 20 games, including a 2-8 showing last year.
