Michigan DC Wink Martindale on matching wits with Texas' Steve Sarkisian

It will be strength against strength when the Wolverines' defense lines up against the Longhorns' offense on Saturday...

Matt Lounsberry | Sep 6, 2024

Blue Team head coach Wink Martindale watches a play during the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Michigan Wolverines

Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale brought 20 years of experience coaching in the NFL back to the college ranks when he was hired by Sherrone Moore to run the Wolverines' defense in 2024.

In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Martindale was asked if he felt all that time coaching at the professional ranks gave him a leg up over college coaches. The defensive coordinator acknowledge his confidence, while noting many offensive coordinators at this level have spent time in the NFL as well, including Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

"I feel pretty good about it, but like, Sark, he was in the NFL and you see a different flux [to his offense]," Martindale told McAfee. "Like, this offense this weekend, there's an Alabama run game to them with a Dolphins motion passing game to them. So, you can see who's he's been visiting with, who he's talked to and he's from the Shanahan tree. You see that as well."

Mike Shanahan's coaching tree has produced some of the top offensive minds in all of football over the past 30 years. These include is son, Kyle, who's the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, as well as Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, among others.

Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Wink Martindale

Blue Team head coach Wink Martindale watches a play during the second half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

It's uncommon for a coach who's spent as many years in the NFL as Martindale has to make a return to college football, but it didn't take long for the defensive coordinator to get comfortable with the idea after his first conversation with Moore.

"It's been great because of the culture that's here already established. That's been here," Martindale said. "Obviously, I had a leg up on it because I worked for coach Jack [Harbaugh] down in Western Kentucky, where we won a national championship. Then, obviously, with John for 10 years. We all met back in '96, so I had an idea of the culture and then, as I told everybody, Sherrone and I started talking on the phone from two friends that connected us. It was a conversation where I wasn't offered anything. The first hour, I hang up the phone and I looked over at my wife, we were down in Florida, and I said, 'I want to work with this guy'."

Martindale's admiration of Moore has only grown in the past few months being on staff at Michigan.

"He's a real dude. He's a guy," he said of Moore. "And, the thing that jumps out to me is he wants to elevate everyone — coaches, players, especially the players. He's always talking to the team. By position groups, on the field, he'll come in sit in meetings, and the thing that you can see if you have experience — how the kids react to him when he's in the room and when he's around them. I think that's pretty cool."

Michigan Wolverines football head coach Sherrone Moore

Aug 31, 2024; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore looks on from the sideline in the first half against the Fresno State Bulldogs at Michigan Stadium. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Sherrone Moore confident in Michigan's roster after NFL departures

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore also participated in the live interview on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show on Friday. McAfee noted the loss of 2023 starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy and asked Moore about the transition to something of a two-quarterback system with Davis Warren and Alex Orji as the Wolverines prepare for No. 3 Texas.

"I think when you lose a guy like J.J. that's always going to be a story but we feel really good about the guys in our room," Moore said. "Had a really good week of preparation, so we're excited for tomorrow."

The battle at the line of scrimmage could very well play the integral role in this matchup between Top 10 teams in Ann Arbor. Michigan has one of the fiercest defensive lines in all of college football, and will likewise be lining up against one of the top offensive lines in the country in the Longhorns.

There's more of an unknown on the other side of the ball, as the Wolverines lost its top six O-lineman from a season ago, while Texas watched 2023 starting defensive tackles Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat get drafted in the first two rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft this past April. Michigan's new offensive line had some struggles in Week 1 against Fresno State, but seemed to find its footing as the game went on.

"The best part about it, you look at the O-line, there's only one guy who's a redshirt freshman that's starting," Moore said. "Everybody else are juniors and seniors. So, it's guys that, yeah they weren't necessarily the starters last year, or full-time starters, but they've played a lot of football, got a lot of experience. All the guys that are playing had an opportunity last year to go play."

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