Wink Martindale Is Michigan's New Defensive Coordinator But I'm Underwhelmed By The Staff That Sherrone Moore Is Putting Together
It will be a while before I give Michigan football any heat. There will come a moment in which the sheen of this glorious national championship run that they just had worn off, but it will be a long time. I'm cruising down East Street. Harbaugh is gone, and so is defensive genius Jesse Minter. You've had a quarterback go to the NFL and lost several skill position guys, and yet I'm just kind of whatever about it. I was not surprised that Michigan promoted Sherrone Moore to head coach. It was the only move that made any logical sense. He brings in a similar system, so they don't have to worry about rocking the boat too much, and the players obviously loved him. Michigan football won't feel the effects of Jim Harbaugh's absence for a few years. You see that with every program.
Jim Harbaugh famously said that Ryan Day was born on third and thought that he had a triple, and he was ultimately proven to be correct about that. Ryan Day's early success was due to his inheriting a roster full of Urban Meyer's players. He hasn't done a bad job necessarily, but by the time he got his guys implemented into that system, Michigan started beating them. One of the big reasons I felt little concern when Harbaugh left was because the brand and infrastructure in Michigan were strong. This is a program that just won a national championship. It's a place where coaches would run to coach, which is why the staff slightly underwhelms me Sherrone Moore has put together so far.
Comparison might be the thief of joy here. I loved what Harbaugh did regarding his coordinator hires in his last few years at Michigan. It was one of those few instances in which he actually left his ego at the door and brought in some young, creative minds. Sherrone Moore is a prime example of that. He was a younger coach who became an excellent offensive coordinator. The defensive coordinator hires were home runs. You had Mike MacDonald, who was the DC in 2021 and laid the groundwork for how to beat Ohio State. He is now a head coach in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks. Harbaugh brought in Jesse Minter, who took McDonald's system and perfected it. Chargers fans should be very excited. I was hoping for more hires like that, young minds who are capable of relating to these players and recruiting well.
Michigan promoted Kirk Campbell, who went from being the quarterbacks coach to the offensive coordinator. He's relatively inexperienced with the role, but then again, so was Sharon Moore when he took that job. I felt like they could've aimed a little bit higher, but I can't necessarily knock That decision. It's a solid double, but I felt like maybe they could've swung for the fences.
Defensibly, it was announced today that Wink Martindale had accepted the job as Michigan's defensive coordinator. Wink Martindale is one of those guys who I swear has been a coach for every football team. He's a football lifer, which is both a good and a bad thing here. He comes from a professional background, which makes me think that Michigan will put together a similar scheme to the NFL defense that they had the last several seasons. Still, I'm just not crazy about this from a recruiting standpoint. Guys like Mike MacDonald and Jesse Minter were ideal coordinators for me in scheme and recruiting. I'm going to ignore that Martindale has been fired several times over the last few years because the NFL is just that tough of a business, but he hasn't coached in college since he was the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky in 2003. The entire landscape of college football has changed since then. Michigan fans need to hope that he's been able to adjust.
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My fears may be misplaced. It's fair to say that Sherrone Moore will be looked at from a different perspective than we looked at Jim Harbaugh. When Harbaugh was brought in here, he was an established name, and had already earned a fair amount of trust. Moore is considered an up-and-coming man, and while I like the higher, he's never built a staff before. As I said, the effects of these moves might not be felt for a while, but I think it's fair to say that with the Big 10 expanding and college football continuing to evolve, it's going to become harder to win than ever. I'm not going to bury anybody yet; that would be silly. He hasn't coached a game yet, but the staff slightly underwhelms me.