It was one of the easiest decisions Jake Martin ever made. The 2017 Brossart graduate returns to his alma mater as head coach after two years at Pendleton County as an assistant.
The Mustangs also seek a third consecutive winning season.
Here’s five things to know about Bishop Brossart football headed into the 2026 season:
A dream realized
Martin enters as the head coach for the Mustangs, taking over for Adam Kozerski, who coached the past two seasons.
“(I) always wanted to get back to Brossart just because of the community aspect of it,” Martin said. “They helped shape where I am at today by going there.”
To Martin, leading the Mustangs is the equivalent of being promoted from the person who picks up the sweaty practice uniforms to replacing Mike Macdonald as head coach of the Super Bowl LX champion Seattle Seahawks.
“And, you know, I just wanted to give back,” Martin says. “I wanted to help out the kids. I want to help out the community and try to build some positivity there.”
Martin was an offensive/defensive lineman at Brossart; he was part of the Mustangs teams that compiled a 17-5 record from 2015-16.
‘Mr. Bishop Brossart’
Age and an achy knee have slowed Dave Schabell down physically, but his Mustang love is maybe stronger than when he graduated in 1965.
Schabell, 79, has been the voice of Brossart football and basketball since 2000. He helped create the website bmustangs.com in 2001, and he’s broadcast hundreds of Mustang games since 2002.
“He was – he is ‘Mr. Bishop Brossart’ – put that out there,” Martin said. “And then when he started doing this broadcast … I know personally after every single one of my brother’s games and my games, my dad would listen to that broadcast over and over again that night, the next morning. Grandpa would do the same, and I know a lot of other families did that as well, and appreciated that.”
Schabell was going to put away the microphone until Martin asked him to come back.
“And at which time I said, Jake, you know, 79 years old, I’m having trouble getting around,” he said. “It’s really an ordeal for me. I got a weak bladder … The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak, and I just can’t do it. But the kid thought enough of me, when he got the job, one of the first things he did was go see if I’d come back and broadcast football for him at Brossart.”
Ask Schabell for two of many memories, and he immediately goes to March 11, 2000 – the night the Mustangs took the 10th Region title over Mason County, 52-50, in The Fieldhouse and a 47-40 win over Graves County at the Sweet 16 ® at Rupp Arena five days later.
“That was pretty amazing, winning the 10th Region tournament because we had never been a Ninth Region contender,” Schabell said. “I wrote a short story about that called ‘The Miracle Millennium Mustangs.’”
Schabell will broadcast Brossart home games because he can keep his equipment at school and publish Mustang media guides – all with a 17-year-old’s enthusiasm.
“Yes!’” Schabell said. “I’m still doing all of the things that I can do here locally and from home.”
No attrition worries
At many small schools, the overarching worry is players transferring to bigger programs. Martin says he’s not worried about losing anyone to perennial powers like Covington Catholic, Highlands or Beechwood.
“Right now, I have personally not dealt with that,” Martin says. “I know in the past two years, I’ve heard there was a couple transferred out.”
Five middle schools – St. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Peter and Paul School in California is one of Brossart’s middle-school feeder schools. Martin says the school’s Brotherhood program, where a high school player pairs with a middle-schooler, helps retain players long-term.
Martin signed up his 30th player this week, so he’s not worried about attrition. He believes once a boy attends a practice, he’s likely to come back – and becomes someone special.
“It’s summertime, and it’s hot, and it takes a special, special person to come out and be a football player,” he said. “Yeah, it’s tough, it’s very tough, and sometimes it’s hard to make that first initial jump into it. I’m a firm believer if you can get them out there to a practice, they fall in love with it. It’s the camaraderie, it’s the love for the game.”
Two to watch
Martin’s main challenge: replacing 11 seniors from last year’s 6-6 squad.
It’s a good thing seniors Landon Spaulding and Quinten Tischner return. Spaulding threw for 2,076 yards with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last year, and Tischner’s 92 tackles were second-best on the team.
“I kind of try and stay in the pocket and if stuff breaks down, I like to get out of there,” Spaulding said, “I feel like I’m pretty mobile. I can move a little bit.”
Spaulding has NCAA Division III offers from Mount St. Joseph, Franklin (Indiana) and Otterbein University. He also plans to visit Georgetown College and Campbellsville this fall.
Script-flipping
The 2026 season – the program’s 20th – begins at home Aug. 21 against Walton-Verona. Martin also said it’s a chance for the Mustangs to go over .500 in program history. (Martin said the Mustangs are 100-105.)
“We’re not necessarily stat-driven, but we want to try to flip that current record to where we have a positive winning percentage for the program this season,” Martin says. “And it’s very doable, I tell the boys.
“They could be really a part of that history of the 20th varsity team, but also flipping that script of that overall record.”
Brossart also moves Class 2A next year and joins a district with Beechwood, Walton-Verona, Gallatin County and Owen County. Martin thinks – or at least hopes – 2027 will be a distraction.
“It’s what’s gonna happen,” Martin said. “We need to be able to control what we can control. And right now, that’s the season at hand.”