Sherrone Moore continues to build his Michigan football coaching staff and on Friday morning, he made his most significant hire yet, as it was reported by Adam Schefter and confirmed by others that Wink Martindale will take over as the Wolverines' defensive coordinator.
Michigan’s past two defensive coordinators, Minter and Mike Macdonald, ran a version of Wink Martindale’s defense, with similar concepts and terminology. Thus, the adjustment for the players might not be quite as dramatic as if another NFL coach took over. https://t.co/BD6uQxFtWI
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 9, 2024
Martindale has spent the past six seasons as an NFL defensive coordinator. He worked under John Harbaugh in Baltimore and was the DC when Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter coached there. They were running a version of Martindale's system the past three seasons.
Wink was with the New York Giants the past two seasons as their defensive coordinator before there was a falling out. With a ton of NFL talent on the roster, this is a golden opportunity for Martindale. It's also a great hire by Moore, who wanted continuity with the defensive scheme. He also wanted someone with an NFL background. There are some downsides, such as recruiting, however, this move is a win on the whole, and here are three thoughts.
A great move for 'continuity'
Continuity has been a huge buzzword for Michigan football during this transition. But you can see why. The Wolverines have dominated the Big Ten and won the national championship last season, why wouldn't you want to continue what has brought success?
The Ravens defensive scheme run by Macdonald and Minter was a game-changer for Michigan football. And outside of those guys, is there anyone better to run it than Martindale -- it's creator?
Now there are going to be scheme differences. Martindale could use some different coverages on the back end, although Steve Clinkscale is still the co-DC, so he's going to have a say, especially in terms of the pass coverage.
Martindale feels like a guy who wants to be a head coach someday. I don't see him doing this job forever. But like Minter and Macdonald, a successful stint could lead to bigger and better things.
Should help with player retention
Throughout this transition, the most important thing is player retention. Michigan football lost 17 starters to the NFL, but there are a bunch of superstarts on this team, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but even on offense. The offensive line is going to be damn good again, plus Donovan Edwards and Colston Loveland are great building blocks. Not to mention a guy like Kalel Mullings.
The defense could have three first-round picks starting next year in Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant, and Mason Graham. Plus, there are guys like Josaiah Stewart, Derrick Moore, Ernest Hausmann, Rod Moore, Makari Paige, Keon Sabb, Jimmy Rolder, Rayshaun Benny, and others ready to make bigger impacts.
The cupboard on defense is far from bare. In fact, I think Michigan football could have the best defense in college football once again. Plus, in a very shrewd move, Sherrone Moore, according to Chris Balas of The Wolverine, allowed some players to sit in on the interview with Martindale.
The buy-in of the players is most important and they seemed to be all about this hire and if the best guys on this defense fall in love with Martindale, that will go a long way to keeping them out of the transfer portal.
I could be wrong, but I think this helps keep Michigan's elite defenders at Michigan.
What it means for recruiting
The recruiting concerns are fair. I don't see a 60-year old Martindale being a star on the recruiting trail. He did work in college football before. His last college job was actually working under Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky which was two decades ago.
But if we're being honest, Macdonald and Minter didn't bring much on the recruiting trail either. Their job was to run the defense and they excelled at it. That will be the same job for Martindale.
That's also why keeping Steve Clinkscale was huge. He's an elite recruiter, plus he's exceptional coaching up the secondary. It does mean that Sherrone is going to have to focus the D-line hire on recruiting because there will need to be another ace recruiter on staff, but that hasn't been the defensive coordinator the past three years, so I'm really not worried about recruiting.
If the defense keeps playing at a high level, the scheme, the results and the NFL draft picks will do a better job recruiting talent that Martindale ever could.