Analyst: Don 'Wink' Martindale known as blitz-heavy but will 'do what's appropriate to win games'

Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Don ‘Wink’ Martindale comes with loads of experience at the NFL level, having been a D.C. in the pros seven seasons — one with the Denver Broncos (2010), four with the Baltimore Ravens (2018-21) and two with the New York Giants (2022-23). That means there’s a big enough sample size to learn about his tendencies calling a defense. However, he hasn’t been in college since 2003 at Western Kentucky, and his philosophy will likely change some now that he’s under head man Sherrone Moore in Ann Arbor.

“You can claim that ‘Wink’ Martindale is more blitz-heavy than what [former Michigan defensive coordinator] Jesse [Minter] was last year. But ‘Wink’ is going to do what is appropriate to win games,” FOX analyst Joel Klatt said on the ‘Joel Klatt Show.’

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If that means blitzing more one game than the next, that’s what he’ll do, something he showed while coordinating NFL defenses.

Martindale’s Ravens defenses led the league in blitz rate on passing downs his first three seasons, and his groups were never lower than eighth over the last six years. The Wolverines, too, blitzed a lot — 44 percent of the time under Minter in 2023 — and used simulated pressures.

At Michigan, Minter didn’t run exactly what he did when leading the Vanderbilt defense in 2021. It’s fair to assume Martindale will mix things up, as well, playing to the strengths of his players and adapting to facing opponents on a weekly basis.

Klatt loves the Martindale hire, due in large part to the continuity it provides.

“Michigan needed to make a defensive coordinator hire after Jesse Minter followed [head coach] Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers,” Klatt said. “Jesse was great, obviously, and former Michigan defensive defensive coordinator and then Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald got the Seattle Seahawks job. And these guys are stars.

“We all know how successful that style and philosophy was for Michigan over the last three years. Run wall, hard edges, hybrid players in coverage — that’s a philosophy. Reduced down to its most minimal form, that’s the philosophy.

“So, who do they go hire? Sherrone Moore gets the head job, promoted from within, loses all of the defensive staff and yet gets to hire ‘Wink’ Martindale, who comes from Baltimore and [head coach] John Harbaugh. Both Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter coached, cut their teeth, were mentored by ‘Wink’ Martindale. So, philosophy wise, I don’t think a lot is going to change.

“The crucial part is, they’ve been recruiting to and developing to a very specific system and philosophy, and they get to stay in that very specific system and philosophy. I think that’s an important piece.”

Macdonald and Minter — both in their 30s when hired at Michigan — worked out for Harbaugh, a veteran in coaching who’s spent his entire life around football. But Moore, the second-youngest coach in the Big Ten, is entering his first season in charge of a college program with the defending national champions. Surrounding himself with the kind of experience Martindale possesses is another positive that Klatt identified.

“He’s also a veteran, I think that’s important for Sherrone, who’s going to be a head coach for the first time, to have some veteran pieces around him on the coaching staff that he can lean on,” Klatt explained. “‘Wink’ Martindale has been around. He was an assistant under John in Baltimore for 10 years, the last four as the coordinator. He was replaced as Baltimore’s D.C. by Mike Macdonald two years ago. Last time he coached in college was for Jack Harbaugh [at Western Kentucky]; that was 20 years ago. He was an assistant coach under Rick Minter, Jesse Minter’s dad, at the University of Cincinnati in the ‘90s. He’s 60 years old, OK, so you’ve got that veteran presence.

“Just in contrast, Macdonald was 33 when Michigan hired him. Minter was 38. Both Macdonald and Minter were assistants under Martindale. The fit is really good here, and I like the hire from Sherrone.”

While the Wolverines lost most of their starters from last season’s national championship-winning team, immense talent remains on defense, including three potential first-round NFL Draft picks in 2025 in junior cornerback Will Johnson and junior defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.

“The truth remains that Sherrone wanted to maintain the philosophy and schematics of what that defense was because of two reasons: That’s specifically how they’ve recruited and specifically how they’ve developed,” Klatt continued. “So, don’t throw it out, don’t change it up. Don’t change front structures.

“You’ve got guys … and that defense should be really good. And how do you keep Will Johnson and Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant — they’ve got dudes and that defense is still going to be very good — keep them in the same philosophy, keep them in the same structure. And that’s what’s going to be happening at Michigan.”