Everything Wink Martindale said on In the Trenches
On his experience in Ann Arbor so far
It's been great. First of all, thanks for having me on. We've been excited since day one when Sherrone and I decided this was gonna work. The people have been great up here. Been to a hockey game, been to a basketball game, can't wait for baseball and softball to start. I enjoy that as well. Just getting back to the campus life. It's been really reenergizing for me, it's brought me back to my roots by just starting as an educator, a teacher and a coach. A high school teacher and a coach. We're really excited about it.
On what he loves about being a coach
The thing that I love about being a coach is being around the players. That's what's been great for me since I've been here. There's guys here all the time watching tape, asking questions. We've had players, Rod's been in there, Makari has been in there, Mason has been in staff meetings. If they want to come in and sit in on a staff meeting, come on in. Let's talk football. That part is all relative whether it's high school, college or pros as far as the teaching and educator part of it. There is a different excitement of guys wanting to learn and it's been a lot of fun.
On his college roots
That's not exactly where I started but we won a national championship at Western Kentucky. When I first started I was a high school teacher and coach for five years and had the opportunity to work at the University of Notre Dame with Coach Holtz and I became friends with Skip working football camps and that and I was going to go with Skip to Connecticut and then Coach Holtz trumped him, that's where it all started. 96 is where myself, John Harbaugh, Rex Ryan, Sam Pittman, a lot of guys who have gone on and had a lot of success in this profession were there and there's other guys that I didn't mention. That's how I got to know John. When his dad had an opening at Western Kentucky, I was at Western Illinois at the time, went from Western Illinois to Western Kentucky and everything just took off.
On what brought him back to college
I think the excitement of coming back to my roots like I initially said and just to have the opportunity. This is a dream job. Coming to the University of Michigan and being the defensive coordinator and having this opportunity, it's one of those things where life is full of those bucket list things and when you look back at it in the end, it's going to be a bucket list thing that we did, my wife and I. I'm just really excited about it. Excited about getting back to the pageantry of college football because that's different compared to the pro level. I wish we had a little bit easier schedule than what we have but I guess it's something I'm used to from where I just came from.
On inheriting the Michigan defense
The biggest thing is there's been some verbiage changes because of the up-tempo of college football, you have to make a lot of calls, just one word things. They kept the foundation of what we all put in together back in 2018. That's fun to see it work and it's not just worked for those two, it's worked for D'anton Lynn who is at USC now, Zack Orr who is the defensive coordinator at Baltimore, there's a lot of guys who have come up through our tree if you will that are having a lot of success with this system. It's like I told the players, in all humility, I'm the O.G. of this system, we're going to be just fine. We're all excited about it and it's going to be fun to see with the new crew that we have defensively on the coaching staff, I tell them every year it evolves to everybody on the staff of what we do with this system so it's all of our system. Starting with Sherrone. It's one of those things that you have the advantage being at the University of Michigan because of the offense and how Sherrone runs the offense, I think that puts us in the right mindset to play great defense because you better be physical if you're gonna play at the University of Michigan. You said something to me when we were off the air, it starts up front with the guys on the D-line. We've got some players there.
On Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant
The thing you see, and this is through the draft process when you're evaluating college guys coming out, is the lack of technique that a lot of them play with. These guys are square football players who play with knockback and they can make plays. It warms my heart to see that. Where some will say that they don't have enough of this, or they don't have — it's complete hogwash because if you can start with stopping run, which those two are very good at, and they do it different ways. It's not just because they're square and play with knockback, they both move well and it's going to be exciting for us. We've got the two linebackers with Ernie and Jaishawn, the transfer from Maryland, that when you're strong up the middle and you're talking about those two tackles, those two inside backers and the two safeties we have, that's a great place to start to have a great defense.
On the Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore
I think it's a great starting point, we just need to build some depth behind them. I think both D-Mo and Josaiah, like you said, they're hidden gems. Just look at the final play against Alabama with Josaiah doing that to that tackle, that's what made the play which a lot of people don't realize, it is. That type of mentality up front, across the board, is going to win you a lot of football games.
On developing depth at defensive back
That's what spring ball is for. That's another thing that excites me about coming back. The difference between spring ball and OTAs, we're actually practicing football and I think the only time you can get better at football is practicing football and that's what I'm excited about with spring ball.
On what he brings to the team
I just think that experience itself is sometimes overlooked in today's age of football. At all the different levels. When you take the mindset of not only developing players but developing coaches, which we have in the last few years, I think you really like where you're at at the end of this thing. Sherrone is a stud. Obviously it's a match made in heaven for he and I to come together and I'm really excited about that. If he has anything, what have you guys done in the past? I just have a bigger library than most because I've been doing this for 40 years.
On what he wants to get out of spring ball
I think the faster that we can get these guys playing, fundamentals and technique. The biggest thing is communication. I think that starts in the meeting rooms, the cafeteria, everywhere. That's where the whole staff on defense, position coach-wise, are all new guys so it's going to be all of us communicating with the players, communicating with each other and that's what makes spring ball exciting.
On the origins of the nickname Wink
Obviously the gameshow host, Wink Martindale, for those people old enough to remember Tic-tac-Toe and all that. God rest his soul, Donald Brown, a guy from Akron when I was a freshman from Defiance College, I had Martindale on a duffle bag when I was carrying it in my freshman year and he said, hey, Wink, and it stuck. It's been that way since my early 20's. Most people call me Wink, they don't call me Don. I always enjoy telling this story, my wife, my grandma, my mom and Al Davis, only three people that call me Donnie. It sort of funny because everyone is used to calling me Wink and I just rolled with it. I don't care what you call me, just call me.
On the first opportunity to coach in the Big House
I'm really excited about it and we're going to get plenty of opportunity to do it this season. I've been here before to do coaching clinics and things like that we did for Jim. Obviously, Pro Day's. Way back, when I was at Notre Dame, I took my wife for a romantic weekend to see Michigan play Ohio State up here at the Big House so that was the last time that I was here during an actual game. I think it was 95 for when (Biakabutuka) ran for like 325 yards. I do remember this, though, Ohio State was loaded with all these number one picks and the Dufek's are the ones who took care of us at the tailgate and we're sitting right there at the 50, it was great seats. It was like during that game, I'm like, these guys are just kicking the out of these guys. It didn't make sense how bad the whipping was. Then, as you grow and learn through, it makes sense.
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