What can Michigan expect from DC Wink Martindale? Early Spring Football Takeaways

Ann Arbor, Michigan. — The layout remains the same, however the playlist has changed.

In another sign of the times at Michigan, the defensive coordinator now wears white compression shirts under sleeveless sweatshirts and plays his preferred music when other coaches arrive in the morning. The selections vary, but there is typically a similar theme.

“It’s all old school, trust me,” Wink Martindale stated.

That’s appropriate for Martindale, 60, who refers to himself as the “O.G.” of the Baltimore Ravens strategy, which Michigan successfully implemented under Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter. Martindale hasn’t coached collegiate football since 2003, when he was the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky. People in the football world — and some in Martindale’s own home — questioned whether he was ready to leave the NFL, but when head coach Sherrone Moore contacted to offer him the defensive coordinator position at Michigan, Martindale had no reservations.

“I told my wife, ‘I want to do this,'” Martindale explained. “She says, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I want to do this.’ To coach at this fantastic university and play the games we play I know his schedule isn’t much different from the ones I’ve been playing for the past 20 years.

Here are five thoughts from Martindale and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell as Michigan enters its first week of spring practice.