Tom Brady’s personal QB coach, Tom Martinez, says he could fix Tim Tebow’s mechanics ‘in two weeks’

It’s impossible to talk of Tom Brady’s success without including Tom Martinez, the legendary former College of San Mateo (Calif.) football coach who has been Brady’s personal quarterback mentor since the player was 15 years old. Brady, who attended high school in San Mateo, mostly credits Martinez with shaping him into the QB he is today. Martinez could have been a huge figure in major college or professional football, but was truly dedicated to helping kids at the local level. He had more than 1,400 career coaching victories at CSM in three sports — football, softball and women’s basketball — where he was considered a tactical genius and a stickler for fundamentals. That win total is believed to be a national Community College record.

In a recent interview with 790 The Zone in Atlanta, Martinez talked of Brady’s performance against the Ravens last week, but it’s when the conversation got around to Tim Tebow — as football conversations inevitably do — that things got really interesting.

Martinez:

“I think Tim Tebow is willing to do anything that people tell him to do. He’s like Brady in the sense that he’s an internal warrior. I think when he started in the NFL, whoever they put him with, I personally kind of disagree with the mechanics he was given. He’s trying to prove the same thing Brady was trying to prove. I could give him what I call correct mechanics in two weeks.”

I’ve known Tom Martinez for several years, I’ve watched him coach, and I have no doubt what he says is true.

Sadly, Martinez is in very poor health. His battle with diabetes is one reason he hasn’t moved into major college or NFL coaching — he turned down an assistant coaching offer from the Oakland Raiders in 2010 due to health concerns, and is currently seeking a donor for a kidney transplant.

Great piece here by the New York Daily News on the Martinez-Brady connection.

Brady has also been involved in raising awareness about organ donation through Canton, Mass.-based MatchingDonors.com. Information here.

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Tom Brady boosts lifelong mentor’s search for a kidney [Fox Sports]

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Contact Off the Bench at Rickchand@gmail.com. Twitter: @RickChand