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'It was love at first sight': What stood out to Wink Martindale when watching Michigan football

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•03/16/24•

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Wink Martindale
(Photo by Clayton Sayfie / TheWolverine.com)

New Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was proud to see two former position coaches he worked alongside with the Baltimore Ravens lead the U-M defense over the last three seasons. Both Mike Macdonald (2021) and Jesse Minter (2022-23) served as Michigan’s coordinator, after working with Martindale, then the D.C., in Baltimore.

Martindale watched every Michigan game the last three seasons, and even tuned in to watch Vanderbilt in 2021, when Minter was the defensive coordinator for the Commodores (and new secondary coach LaMar Morgan was the cornerbacks coach).

“I told LaMar we watched Vanderbilt play Connecticut. That was a barn-burner,” Martindale said somewhat sarcastically, cracking a smile, referring to a 30-28 Vanderbilt victory Oct. 2, 2021.

“It’s basically family. As coaches, we spend more time together than we do with our families, which is a sad thing to say about the profession, but that’s the way it is.”

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Martindale acknowledged that his style of calling a defense differs from that of Macdonald and Minter, but that both did “really cool things.” He was able to see that while watching from afar, and has also learned about what they implemented by being in the program and talking to returning players and coaches.

What has stood out to Martindale the most about watching Michigan play, though, didn’t have to do with scheme or blitz rate or zone vs. man or any of that.

“To me, the thing that stood out was not with Mike or Jesse, it’s [Michigan head coach] Sherrone [Moore] and [former head man] Jim [Harbaugh] as far as the physicality of what this team plays with offense, defense and special teams.

“It’s the way it’s supposed to be played. That’s so refreshing for me. It’s how you practice, it’s how you workout, it’s how you do your walkthroughs. It all starts as soon as you walk into this building.”

Physicality has been a core principle of the Michigan program for decades, and Moore understands it as well as anyone. Serving as interim head coach as well as calling the offense as the coordinator at Penn State last year, Moore and U-M ran the ball on 32 straight plays to close out a 24-15 win — and Martindale loved to see it.

“It was love at first at sight when I watched the Penn State game and he ran the ball 32 times in a row,” Martindale said. “I’m like, that’s my guy. It goes back to the old [late] Buddy Ryan philosophy, if you have a blitz that’s hitting, don’t block it for him, keep calling it.

“Sherrone has the same philosophy as an offensive guy of running the football. If they can’t stop it, why do anything else? Just keep feeding the rock to those guys — the running backs.”

The way the offense plays — and practices — impacts the defense and so on.

“It comes back to the physicality,” the Michigan coordinator said. “It makes your whole team tougher. I’m really excited to be a part of that again. I was that way with Jack [Harbaugh] at Western Kentucky and places that we’ve had success, in Baltimore with [head coach] John [Harbaugh]. We always had a physical team. That’s what I’m excited about.”

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