Martin is a first generation Cuban-American. He is the son of political exiles from Cuba. Martin grew up in Miami and graduated from Florida International in 1992. Growing up in South Florida in the 1970’s the two sports that grabbed the attention of Latin-American Immigrant families was baseball and football.
Martin’s mentor is former FIU and legendary Miami High School Coach Shakey Rodriguez. Martin spent 15 years as a high school basketball coach and math teacher. He began his career as an assistant at his Alma mater Miami High School. He stayed there for seven seasons.
Martin was working as a bouncer at a night club in addition to coaching the Junior Varsity at Miami High when an incident at the club pushed Martin to decide to pursue becoming a Basketball Coach full time.