it’s going to be fun as longtime NFL DC Wink Martindale ‘excited’ to recruit, coach young players at Michigan
The last time the longtime NFL defensive coordinator was coaching in the college game, social media didn’t exist, most of Michigan’s roster wasn’t born yet and Jack Harbaugh was his head coach. Well technically, Martindale outlasted Harbaugh at Western Kentucky by one season, but the fact remains that Martindale proceeded to coach in the NFL for the next 20 years, including seven seasons as a defensive coordinator, without much thought about returning to the college game.
So when Martindale took a job this winter as Michigan’s new defensive coordinator, it raised a few eyebrows. Martindale was a revered coach, whose defensive system in Baltimore had produced six active defensive coordinators (including former Michigan coordinator Jesse Minter) and one head coach (former Michigan coordinator Jesse Minter). Had he waited for an NFL team to come calling after being fired by the New York Giants, at least one team likely would have with a strong job opportunity. One with no recruiting, no NIL and no transfer portal.
Instead, he opted to return to college for the first time since 2003, to play for a head coach 22 years his junior. Complications of the college game be damned, Martindale is embracing the opportunity.
“It’s getting very comparable to the National Football League, is what it’s getting comparable to,” Martindale said Friday when asked to compare the college and pro games. “I think through mutual friends, Sherrone (Moore) and I got in contact with each other. That part worked right away, immediately just talking with Sherrone. I heard a lot of great things about him and everything that people have told me, I’ve seen. It’s an opportunity for myself and my wife, I want to do this. She’s like, ‘are you sure?’ I’m like, ‘yeah, I want to do this.’
“To coach at this great university and play the games that we play, this schedule is not much different from the schedules I’ve been playing the last 20 years, I know that. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us.”
Of course, it also raised a few eyebrows from skeptics, who may question Martindale’s ability to recruit and connect with high-school prospects. The last time Martindale was sent on the recruiting trail, the recruiting world was wildly different. Coaches found players in different ways, communicated with them differently and players had different priorities
