‘No doubt where the bar is set’: Wink Martindale brings experience, unique philosophy to Michigan

Much like the Michigan football team’s defense, Wink Martindale comes to Ann Arbor with a reputation that precedes him. 

Having spent more than thirty years as a football coach — the past twenty-one in the NFL — and having led three different professional defensive schemes, the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator is not lacking in experience. And frankly, his play calling tendencies and his preferred style of defense isn’t an unknown either. 

Not only is Martindale’s affinity for aggressive, exotic playcalling well documented, but his coaching tree has already impacted Michigan prior to this point. Both of the Wolverines’ past two defensive coordinators spent years coaching directly under him — and both coached Michigan to great success. But now in a twist, Martindale must live up to the shadow of his former protege. 

Last year under defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Michigan’s defense was piloted to tremendous success. Allowing the fewest yards and points per game and possessing top five rushing and passing defenses, the Wolverines’ defense was counted on to win games. But even with an overwhelmingly new roster and staff, Martindale isn’t shying away from the idea that there is pressure for this year’s defense to live up to last year’s — though he doesn’t think it’s unique.

“I think that you’re not worth a grain of salt if you don’t feel pressure as a coach, every year, no matter where you’re at,” Martindale said Tuesday. “Do you want to be better than (last year)? Sure you do. But sometimes what you want is not always what you get. … But there’s no doubt where the bar is set.”

However, Martindale’s defense trying to live up to the success of last year’s crew doesn’t mean that he should be expected to copy Minter’s defense. Martindale’s own experiences over the past thirty years will dictate how he operates, but he will incorporate aspects of what was successful with his own twists. 

For instance, Martindale is keeping Minter’s emphasis on what he termed the “four pillars” of defense — block destruction, ball disruption, ‘shocking’ effort and ‘obnoxious’ communication — but it won’t be a carbon copy. 

“It’s a different delivery when it’s a different guy doing it,” Martindale said. “We had those same pillars in Baltimore and New York, and I just think that you get what you emphasize. And that’s definitely one of the first things I’m going to talk about when we have our philosophy meetings tonight — (I’ll) talk about the pillars, and how I see them.”

But more than simply integrating aspects of what worked in the past, Martindale’s unique coaching philosophy is something that will not change — not now, and not ever. One particularly notable aspect of Martindale’s philosophy is that he lives and dies by man-coverage principles, and he’s bringing that with him. 

“I’ll say this wherever I’m at and I’ll say this when I’m retired,” Martindale said. “Man (coverage) teams when you start out teaching the principle of man — which we’ll do on the first practice — can play zone to win games. Zone (coverage) teams who play nothing but zone, can never play man to win the game.”

More than just his belief in man coverage though, Martindale’s aggressive, risk-taking persona will also be incorporated into the Wolverines’ defense. While he faced criticisms for that aspect of his coaching style with the New York Giants, Martindale doesn’t see it as a cut-and-dry thing. 

“Am I an aggressive play caller? Yes, I’m an aggressive play caller,” Martindale said. “We won a lot of football games calling games aggressively. When it doesn’t work, that’s when everybody comes out and says ‘Oh, he’s blitzing too much.’ Don’t hear that at all when you win. You hear about how creative you are. … But we’ll find that right mix of pressure … that’s what training camp’s for.”

As the Wolverines’ defense takes shape in the next month, and as Martindale’s philosophy molds to his personnel, pressure will remain a constant. Michigan as a whole has giant shoes to fill, and it’ll have to do so with an almost entirely new roster. But that pressure shouldn’t be expected to change Martindale’s style.

As he reiterated Tuesday, “football is football,” and reputation and pressure won’t change his approach to the game.

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