Sherrone Moore coaching staff tracker: Michigan finds its defensive coordinator

The Michigan Wolverines coaching staff gained a major piece on Friday with the report that Don “Wink” Martindale will be the team’s defensive coordinator under head coach Sherrone Moore. With that, the team’s brain trust is set with Moore, Martindale and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell.

Here’s an updated look at where things stand with Moore’s coaching staff.

Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach: Kirk Campbell

Campbell just wrapped his second season with the Michigan football program and first as the team’s quarterbacks coach before his promotion to offensive coordinator. He called plays in the 2023 season opener against East Carolina with Moore serving a one-game suspension over alleged recruiting violations. In that contest, McCarthy went 26-for-30 for 280 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-3 victory.

Wide receivers coach: Ron Bellamy

The former West Bloomfield HS coach has found a home at his alma mater, coaching safeties in 2021 and wide receivers the last two years. There have been no indications that his status at Michigan has changed, and he is expected to remain on the staff working with the wideouts.

Tight ends coach: Steve Casula

This hire has not been made official yet, but will be shortly. Casula comes over from UMass, where he served as head coach and former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown’s offensive coordinator. He was an analyst at Michigan from 2019-21 working with the offensive staff, serving in a variety of roles.

Offensive line coach: Grant Newsome

One of Moore’s mentees over the last few years, Newsome now gets to slide into the role vacated by Michigan’s new head coach. The 2024 season will be his 10th in the program after playing offensive tackle from 2015-16. He was a student assistant with the tight ends from 2018-19, then moved onto grad assistant on the offensive line from 2020-21. He coached U-M’s tight ends in 2022-23.

Defensive coordinator: Don “Wink” Martindale

Reported on Friday, 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).

Co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs: Steve Clinkscale

Clinkscale has been on the Michigan staff since 2021 working with the defensive backs, and given staffing numbers, might be working more with the safeties next year depending on how the rest of the staff shakes out. There were reports that he may have been a candidate to join the staff with the LA Chargers, but it does appear he is sticking around for at least 2024.

Special teams coordinator: J.B. Brown

Michigan promoted Brown to special teams coordinator last week after reports of Jay Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL surfaced. Brown served as a special teams analyst under Harbaugh from 2021-23 and coordinated the special teams at Texas Southern from 2019-20. His prior stops included Kansas in 2015-16 and Houston in 2017-18 as a graduate assistant assisting with special teams in both spots.

Michigan coaching staff spots still needed

Assuming the hires of Casula and Martindale are made official soon, Michigan has three positions that we are still awaiting clarity on – running backs coach, defensive line and linebackers.

The status of running backs coach/run game coordinator Mike Hart is currently unknown. He has not been on the recruiting trail with the rest of the Michigan staff and has not been seen publicly since the team’s national title win on Jan. 8. His contract expired at the end of the 2023 season. The Wolverines will need to hire a full-time linebackers coach after Chris Partridge’s firing by the university last fall and with Rick Minter unlikely to return after being elevated from analyst to replace him. Defensive line coach Mike Elston departed the program this week, reportedly to take a job with Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers.