Michigan set to hire Don 'Wink' Martindale as defensive coordinator
Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore is set to make his first major external hire of his tenure, bringing in former Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale to the same role.
Martindale spent the last two seasons with the Giants as their defensive coordinator under head coach Brian Daboll. Before that, he spent the 2012-21 seasons with John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens and ran the team’s defense from 2018-21, winning a Super Bowl over Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers in 2012.
Other NFL stops in Martindale’s career include the Oakland Raiders (2004-08) and Denver Broncos (2009-10). Much of his coaching experience comes with the linebackers, helming that position group at almost every stop along the way.
Martindale has not coached at the college level since he was at Western Kentucky with Jack Harbaugh in 2000-03. There, he was his defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Other college gigs along the way included Defiance (defensive coordinator, 1986-87), Notre Dame (assistant, 1994-95), Cincinnati (special teams and linebackers, 1996-98) and Western Illinois (defensive coordinator/linebackers, 1999).
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Michigan wants to keep a Ravens-style of defense intact with Martindale, but there could be some philosophical differences between the Mike Macdonald/Jesse Minter style of system leaned on mixing zone coverages. Martindale is by and large a major influence on what Michigan wants to run, but might do things a bit differently.
Anthony Del Genio of Big Blue View wrote in July 2023:
New York Giants fans were mostly thrilled when new head coach Brian Daboll made Don “Wink” Martindale one of his first hires, as defensive coordinator. There is probably no defense more fun to watch than one based on Martindale’s “pressure breaks pipes” philosophy. His teams lead the league in blitzes, with pass rushers disguised before the snap and then one or two schemed to get open paths to the quarterback after the snap.
…
Martindale seeks to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands as soon as possible, but the extra potential pass rusher he often puts up front means one less player in coverage. That puts a premium on defensive backs who can play on an island in man coverage long enough for the pressure to either get to the quarterback or force him to throw to a receiver who is not yet open... That goes against the raging NFL trend toward the Vic Fangio-style zone defense approach that seeks to disguise coverage rather than pass rushers and shows a lot of two-high shells prior to the snap. League-wide, about two-thirds of dropbacks since 2020 have been against zone defenses.
Moore’s staff is headlined by Kirk Campbell as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and now Martindale, making up the three-headed braintrust that will helm the 2024 Wolverines. Other staffers include wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy, tight ends coach Steve Casula, offensive line coach Grant Newsome, defensive backs coach/co-defensive coordinator Steve Clinkscale and special teams coordinator J.B. Brown.
Moore has a few more hires to make, but the biggest domino to fall was the Martindale hire, so expect more clarity on the defensive side of the ball for Michigan in the near future.
Keep it locked here for the latest on Michigan’s coaching staff developments and more.
