Michigan football’s Wink Martindale not worried about transition: ‘OG of this system’

After more than 40 years in the industry, Don “Wink” Martindale has pretty much seen it all.

He won an NCAA championship alongside a coach named Harbaugh, won a Super Bowl alongside a coach named Harbaugh and now will take over the defense of a defending national champion which was coached by someone named Harbaugh.

Martindale, 60, has been in Ann Arbor for more than six weeks, but was only recently announced as the team’s defensive coordinator earlier this month. On a recent episode of the program’s podcast “Inside The Trenches,” the well-traveled defensive mind detailed his early days with Michigan football after nearly two decades coaching at the NFL level.

“We’ve been excited since Day 1 when Sherrone (Moore) and I decided this was going to work,” Martindale said. “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.

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“Just to getting back to campus life, it’s been really re-energizing for me, it’s brought me back to my roots of just starting as an educator — a high school teacher and a coach.”

Martindale spent five years as a high school coach after he played at Defiance College in the late 70s and early 80s — which is where he got the nickname “Wink” when he walked in during his freshman year with a duffle bag that had “Martindale” on the side. The late Donald Brown said, “hey Wink,” after the popular gameshow host at the time.

It’s stuck for more than 40 years, and what feels like nearly 40 jobs.

“My wife, my grandma, my mom and Al Davis are about the only people who call me Donnie,” he laughed. “Everybody else is used to calling me Wink. I don’t care what you call me, just call me.”

‘The…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-footballs-wink-martindale-not-101208316.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-03-14 10:12:08

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