Michigan Football DC Wink Martindale on the comparison with Texas' Steve Sarkisian

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

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Martindale was asked if he felt all that time coaching in the pros gave him an advantage over college coaches. The defensive coordinator acknowledged his confidence, but noted that many offensive coordinators at that level have also spent time in the NFL, including Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

“I feel pretty good about it, but Sark was in the NFL and you see a different flow [to his offense]Martindale told McAfee. “This offense this weekend, for example, there's an Alabama running game and a Dolphins passing game. So you can see who he's been visiting, who he's been talking to, and he's from the Shanahan family tree. You can see that too.”

Mike Shanahan's coaching pedigree has produced some of the best offensive minds in all of football over the past 30 years, including his son Kyle, who is 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.

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

“It was great because the culture is already established here. It's already like that here,” Martindale said. “Of course I had an advantage because I worked for coach Jack. [Harbaugh] down in Western Kentucky where we won a national championship. Then, of course, ten years with John. We all met in 1996, so I had an idea of ​​the culture, and then, as I told everyone, Sherrone and I started talking on the phone through two friends who put us in touch. It was a conversation where I wasn't offered anything. The first hour I hung up and looked over at my wife, we were down in Florida, and I said, “I want to work with this guy.”

Martindale's admiration for Moore has only grown in the last few months he has been employed at Michigan.

“He's a real guy. He's a real guy,” he said of Moore. “And what I notice is he wants to bring everybody to a higher level — coaches, players, especially the players. He's always talking to the team. At the position groups, on the field, he comes to meetings and when you have experience, you can see 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 head coach Sherrone Moore also participated in a live interview on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show on Friday. McAfee mentioned the loss of starting quarterback JJ McCarthy for 2023 and asked Moore about the transition to a two-quarterback system with Davis Warren and Alex Orji as the Wolverines prepare to face No. 3 Texas.

“I think when you lose a guy like JJ, it's always a story, but we feel good about the guys in our room,” Moore said. “We had a really good week of preparation, so we're excited for tomorrow.”

The battle at the line of scrimmage could play a crucial role in this clash of top-10 teams in Ann Arbor. Michigan has one of the strongest defenses in all of college football and will also face one of the best offensive lines in the country in the Longhorns.

On the other side of the ball, there are more unknowns, as the Wolverines lost their top six O-lineman from last season, 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 last April. Michigan's new offensive line struggled a bit in Week 1 against Fresno State, but seemed to find its footing as the game went on.

“The best part is when you look at the O-line, there's only one guy who's a redshirt freshman starting,” Moore said. “Everyone else is juniors and seniors. So they're guys who weren't necessarily the starters or full-time starters last year, but they've played a lot of football and have a lot of experience. All the guys that are playing had the opportunity to play last year.”

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