He wanted RPI to be his new home.

“Danny Cole and Flynn Cochran, two standouts from last year, were involved in the interview process. They were vital in selling me on the program showing me the great kids that are in this program,” Martinovich said.

“Coach King did a tremendous job of selling me on the pros of coming here and Ken Ralph played a tremendous part in furthering my interest in the school. I walked away from the interview knowing this is where I wanted to be.”

However, even after being offered the job by Ralph in May, Hamilton College’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for the last three years hesitated.

Why, because the decision was not completely up to him.

“I needed time to talk it over with my wife,” Martinovich, who also coached at Swarthmore College, Bucknell, and the University of Albany, said. “You don’t do anything without the okay of your significant other.”

Fortunately for Rensselaer, Martinovich’s wife, Erin, who works for Skidmore College, agreed to move with their 16 month-old daughter Hailey.

Martinovich’s family is originally from Albany, so their decision was truly not a difficult one to make.

“She knew she would have opportunities for her career and she wanted to come back home,” Martinovich said. “That was all I needed to hear.”

Unfortunately, getting his wife’s approval for the move was the easy part.

Now, the former Hobart quarterback faces the daunting task of replacing his legendary predecessor, Brain Surace, who left to coach at Division I Northeastern, and the likes of Cole and Cochran.

How does he plan to do this? He doesn’t.

While Martinovich does employ a strikingly similar offense to the one RPI fans have seen over the past few years, he has added his own personality to the playbook.

“I think he is trying to do basically what we have done in the past,” King said. “He has put his own label or signature on things if you will.”

What that “signature” is remains unclear, although Martinovich insists he will use the same strategy that has worked for him and the Engineers in recent years.

“We are a spread, no huddle, offense,” the Plattsburgh native said. “You will see multiple varieties of formations. We have two veteran running backs, so don’t be surprised if we run the ball a little bit more than we have.”

Both senior captain Otis Williams and sophomore Jay Benardo are returning at the running back spot and Martinovich hopes to use some two back sets to get his two most experienced playmakers in the game.

Martinovich also realizes it will be next to impossible to replace the likes of Cole, Cochran, and Pat Hughes, but is confident in his younger players at the skill positions.

“We are young and unproven, but we are extremely athletic at the skill positions,” Martinovich said. “A lot of them just don’t have the experience that a Danny Cole or a Flynn Cochran had, so we are probably in a similar situation to when those two guys were sophomores. We’re starting with some young talent, but we do have the talent.”

Certainly an encouraging message to his players. But Martinovich, who tries to have several plays ready for every game situation, admits he may have to keep things straightforward, at least at first, for his youthful squad.

“We are going to have to be a little simpler at the start of the season to allow our starting eleven to have some success,” Martinovich said.