Martez Edwards, left, and Meridian High School principal Victor Hubbard. Edwards was announced as Meridian's new head football coach Monday morning. 

While Monday marked Martez Edwards’ first official day as Meridian High School’s head football coach, the 38-year-old Detroit, Michigan, native said he’s aspired the lead the Wildcats for over a decade. 

Edwards was an assistant at Jackson State University during Meridian’s 2008 state championship win against South Panola, and the Wildcats’ performance that night at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium left an indelible impression.

“It’s still the tradition,” Edwards said of Meridian’s allure. “Even though it was 10 years ago, it was a feeling that I had. It was a goal that I set. It’s a good place for me to live. Not often do you get a chance to get one of the better jobs in the country. This is a top job in the country… This is my fourth head-coaching job: I’ve coached in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and now Mississippi. And when you talk about football, you have to include the South.”

Edwards was introduced as Meridian’s new football coach during a press conference Monday morning at the high school’s multi-purpose building.

Edwards comes to Meridian from Georgia’s Forest Park High School, where he compiled a 5-17 record over the last two seasons. Before his arrival at Forest Park, Edwards guided the Bessemer City Tigers (Alabama) to a 30-18 record over a four-year period.

Edwards, flanked by Meridian principal Victor Hubbard and Meridian athletic director Chuck Butler, donned a gray-and-blue Meridian hat before introducing himself to members of the Wildcat community.

Edwards graduated from Tennessee’s Lane College in 2002, where he was a four-year member of the school’s football program. His coaching resume includes stints at Jackson State and Howard universities. Edwards held high school coaching jobs at Detroit’s Cass-Tech and Crockett high schools, and before leading Bessemer City, where he was a state finalist for Alabama’s Coach of the Year award in 2013, Edwards served as head coach at Tennessee’s Jackson Central-Merry High School.

“From a principal’s standpoint, my ultimate choice was based on the fact that he had knowledge on how to get young men to graduate from high school, and to get them to graduate with opportunities to further their expertise at the collegiate level,” Hubbard said. 

Edwards inherits a Meridian program that went 4-7 in 2018 and was absent from the postseason for the first time in 15 years. Former Meridian head coach Calvin Hampton parted ways with the school in November, sparking a two-month search for his replacement. 

Current members of Meridian’s football team planned to be formally introduced to Edwards Monday afternoon. Edwards said he is in the process of assembling his assistants.

“We’re going to do what’s in the best interest of Meridian football,” Edwards said. “Whether that means bringing in some guys, whether that means changing some guys around, we’re going to do what’s in the best interest of Meridian football to get this program going to where we want it to be.”

Edwards, who was a finalist for the Meridian vacancy in 2016, was expected to be approved by the school board during last Tuesday’s meeting. However, his hire wasn’t brought up for a vote at that time. The board approved Edwards’ hire on Saturday.

“I think it was just the fact that he was able to speak to the board,” Hubbard said of the delay. “Our superintendent was able to allow him to speak to the board, and that was good. I think that was only fair that he spoke to the board to give them any type of opportunity (for him) to answer any questions they might want to ask. I wasn’t there, but he spoke to the board and the athletic director spoke to the board, and I think they answered the questions that they might have had.”

Meridian opens its 2019 season at Northeast Lauderdale on Aug. 23.