Former Giles football star hired as Martinsville's new top dog

Nathan Tanner replaces Orion Martin as the Bulldogs head football coach

At the home of the Bulldogs, there's a new top dog in  town. With the departure of Orion Martin, Nathan Tanner will take over the reigns of the Martinsville High School football program.

"We got a great group of kids. There's a lot of really good people in the community from what I've seen so far and I got a great coaching staff around us so hopefully we can really get stuff rolling," said Tanner.

The team advanced to the VHSL playoffs for three straight years. Last year, Martinsville finished with a record of 8-4. Martin helped lay the groundwork for a solid future for the Bulldogs.

"I feel very fortunate because I been telling people the foundation is set. We're just going to out the walls and roof on it now. We're just going to build off what him and the other coaches have done this far," he said.

"Coach Martin, he likes to run the ball a lot and coach Tanner likes a spread offense so a lot of passing but we are going to run a lot too, but it'll be a lot different. We should have the same record or might even be better because of this new offense but we should do good based off last year," said tight end E.J. Bratcher.

Tanner was the head coach at Summers County High School in West Virginia for the past four years. His team went to playoffs for three out of those four years. In 2013, they posted the best record in history at 9-2.

"Something I learned with my first position was when you take care of the small and you really harp on doing the little things right, success takes care of itself," Tanner said.

The little things were something Tanner perfected in High School. As a senior at Giles, he rushed for more than 1,700 yards and 33 touchdowns. In his homecoming to Southwest Virginia, Tanner will trade his cleats for a clipboard and is set to continue his coaching success.