Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football dropped a pretty significant “Stepp bomb” early Thursday morning: Mart athletic director and head football coach Chris Lancaster has resigned just one game into the 2026 season.
For a program with Mart’s history, any coaching change gets attention. A resignation after Week One makes this one especially surprising.
Lancaster took over the Panthers ahead of the 2025 season following the retirement of longtime head coach Kevin Hoffman. In his only full season, Mart went 7-6 and advanced to the regional semifinals despite finishing fourth in district play.
His second season lasted just one game.
Mart opened 2026 with a 40-0 home loss to Whitney. The Panthers are scheduled to return to the field Friday night against state-ranked Axtell, meaning the program now has to make a major transition with almost no time to settle in.
Mart ISD announced that assistant coach Kyle Stone will serve as interim athletic director and head football coach.
The district did not announce a specific reason for Lancaster’s resignation beyond confirming that it was effective immediately.
Lancaster leaves Mart with a 7-7 record across 14 games. Before arriving with the Panthers, he had head coaching stops at Robinson, Little River Academy and Bruceville-Eddy.
The bigger picture here is what makes the timing so notable.
Mart is not simply another Class 2A football program. The Panthers entered this season with 851 all-time victories, second-most in Texas High School Football history. They have won eight state championships and appeared in 15 state title games.
Expectations in Mart are understandably different because generations of Panther teams have established a championship standard.
Stone now inherits that standard in one of the most unusual ways possible, taking control days before a difficult road matchup and with nearly the entire 2026 season still ahead.
Mart football has dealt with plenty of pressure over the years. This time, the challenge comes before September has even really started.
