Newsstand: Another NFL team linked to Wink Martindale looks elsewhere
The Michigan Wolverines may have dodged a bullet with NFL teams coming after the defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, at least for now.
The Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts interviewed Martindale last week, but decided to go in another direction. A third team, the Cincinnati Bengals, are set to hire Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden for the position.
Martindale, the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football this season, led a unit that was 11th in the country in total defense, allowing 307.0 yards per contest. They were also 19th in scoring defense, allowing 19.9 points per contest.
Martindale signed a three-year contract last winter, coming in at an average of $2.5 million over the duration with base salaries of $2.3 million in 2024, $2.5 million in 2025 and $2.7 million in 2026. Now into the second year of his contract, which began on Jan. 11, if he left for an NFL defensive coordinator job, he will owe U-M $350,000.
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Before Martindale arrived in Ann Arbor, Martindale spent two seasons with the New York Giants as its defensive coordinator. He was previously with the Baltimore Ravens from 2012-21 as its linebackers coach (2012-17) and defensive coordinator (2018-21). He has two decades of experience coaching in the NFL, so renewed interest after a strong debut season at Michigan is not all that surprising.
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Michigan quote of the day
“Our rebounding has to improve. We’ve gotta find ways to be more disruptive on the defensive end. We’ve had to force a few more turnovers to try to find some easy baskets. But offensively, just playing, we have to screen better, we have to cut better. Most of us hadn’t been in the big ten for a long time. So there’s certain things that you just, you forget. And I catch myself saying, no, next fall, next summer, we’ll work on this more. But we have to play with much more physicality in our league. We have to adjust to the game better. And so we can’t get knocked off our screens. We can’t pull away from screens. We’ve gotta be the aggressor when it comes to playing with physicality. And we have the size and bodies to do it.”
– Michigan head men’s basketball coach Dusty May on what needs to improve in Big Ten play
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