Veteran NFL assistant Wink Martindale to become Michigan Wolverines defensive coordinator

For the past several years, as it captured Big Ten championships, made the College Football Playoff and, eventually, won its first national championship in 26 years, Michigan football’s success was predicated at least in part on its defense.

The Wolverines boasted a top-10 scoring defense in each of the past three seasons, a stretch in which they went 40-3. This past season, on their way to a national title, they were the No. 1 scoring defense in the FBS, allowing just 10.4 points per game.

For that unit to continue to excel, it will need to adjust to not only the loss of key personnel, but coaching departures.

With coach Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and with defensive coordinator Jesse Minter following him there, Michigan and new head coach Sherrone Moore have reportedly turned to Wink Martindale to be the team’s next defensive coordinator.

If Martindale’s name sounds familiar — beyond the fact he shares it with another famous figure — it should.

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The 60-year-old Martindale has been an NFL defensive coordinator for each of the past six seasons, for the Baltimore Ravens from 2018-21 and the New York Giants from 2022-23.

Now, he’ll be one of the most integral figures in trying to ensure that Michigan football can maintain the significant gains it made over the final three years of Harbaugh’s tenure and remain a consistent national championship threat in a changing college football landscape.

Before he begins that work with the Wolverines, here’s everything you need to know about Martindale:

Wink Martindale coaching career

Martindale has been a coach in some form since 1986, when he got his start as the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Defiance College, a small private school in northwest Ohio about 35 miles south of the Michigan border. That stint came after he worked for a year for his family’s trucking company, a time in which he drove brake parts from Dayton to Detroit on a taxing 6.5-hour round-trip.

Though he’ll soon be returning to the college level, the bulk of Martindale’s coaching experience has been in the NFL, where he has held various positions since the 2004 season. He has been a defensive coordinator for seven seasons and with three different franchises: The Ravens, Giants and Denver Broncos.

Here’s a rundown of Martindale’s various coaching stops:

• 1986-87: Defiance College, defensive coordinator
• 1994-95: Notre Dame, defensive assistant
• 1996-98: Cincinnati, special teams and linebackers coach
• 1999: Western Illinois, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
• 2000-03: Western Kentucky, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
• 2004-08: Oakland Raiders, linebackers coach
• 2009: Denver Broncos, linebackers coach
• 2010: Denver Broncos, defensive coordinator
• 2012-17: Baltimore Ravens, linebackers coach
• 2018-21: Baltimore Ravens, defensive coordinator
• 2022-23: New York Giants, defensive coordinator

Wink Martindale Giants departure

Martindale’s most recent stop on his NFL coaching journey came with a bit of an awkward exit.

After his second season in New York, Giants coach Brian Daboll fired outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins and Wilkins' younger brother, Kevin, a defensive assistant on staff, both of whom Martindale brought with him from Baltimore. According to a report from the New York Post, Martindale was incensed by the move, cursing out Daboll and slamming the door as he left the office.

Daboll had said he expected Martindale to return for the 2024 season, but reports emerged that Martindale planned to resign. After a days-long standoff, the two sides mutually agreed to part ways on January 10.

Wink Martindale defense ranking

Martindale’s career as an NFL defense coordinator got off to a forgettable start, with the Broncos ranking last in both total defense and scoring defense. His defenses with the Ravens were regularly among the league’s best, though that success waned in his final season, ultimately leading to his ouster. The Giants never ranked higher than 18^th in scoring defense or total defense in his two seasons there.

Here’s a look at the ranking of each of the defenses for which Martindale was a coordinator. Rankings are out of 32 teams.

• 2010 Broncos: 32^nd in total defense, 32^nd in scoring defense
• 2018 Ravens: 1^st in total defense, 2^nd in scoring defense
• 2019 Ravens: 4^th in total defense, 3^rd in scoring defense
• 2020 Ravens: 7^th in total defense, 2^nd in scoring defense
• 2021 Ravens: 25^th in total defense, 19^th in scoring defense
• 2022 Giants: 25^th in total defense, 18^th in scoring defense
• 2023 Giants: 27^th in total defense, 26^th in scoring defense

Wink Martindale defensive scheme

Martindale’s defenses have been known for their aggressive approach that regularly features blitzes. The scheme seeks to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks and flood the line of scrimmage, with players constantly moving around before the snap to create confusion.

"You want to dictate to the offense instead of sitting there and letting them dictate to you,” Martindale told reporters in 2022 before his first season as Giants offensive coordinator.

It will mark a bit of a philosophical break from Michigan’s previous two defensive coordinators, Minter and Mike Macdonald, both of whom, interestingly enough, were defensive assistants with the Ravens during Martindale’s time as defensive coordinator.

Wink Martindale Harbaugh family connection

While Harbaugh wasn't the coach who hired Martindale, the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator has extensive ties to the family of their former coach.

Martindale was a defensive coordinator for Harbaugh’s father, Jack, for three seasons at Western Kentucky, where he was part of a Hilltoppers staff that led the program to the 2002 Division I-AA (now known as FCS) national championship.

His 10 seasons with the Ravens all came under Harbaugh’s older brother, John. There, Martindale was part of the Ravens team that won the Super Bowl in 2013.

Is Wink Martindale his real name?

Alas, Martindale’s given name is Don, not Wink. While a freshman at Defiance, Martindale’s roommate and teammate, Donald Brown, saw Martindale’s name on a duffel bag and began referring to him as “Wink,” a reference to the famed disc jockey, radio personality and game show host Winston “Wink” Martindale.

Eventually, the name stuck.