Michigan
Analyst: Don 'Wink' Martindale known as blitz-heavy but will 'do what's appropriate to win games'
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Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Don ‘Wink’ Martindale comes with loads of experience at the NFL level, having been a D.C. in the pros seven seasons — one with the Denver Broncos (2010), four with the Baltimore Ravens (2018-21) and two with the New York Giants (2022-23). That means there’s a big enough sample size to learn about his tendencies calling a defense. However, he hasn’t been in college since 2003 at Western Kentucky, and his philosophy will likely change some now that he’s under head man Sherrone Moore in Ann Arbor.
“You can claim that ‘Wink’ Martindale is more blitz-heavy than what [former Michigan defensive coordinator] Jesse [Minter] was last year. But ‘Wink’ is going to do what is appropriate to win games,” FOX analyst Joel Klatt said on the ‘Joel Klatt Show.’
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If that means blitzing more one game than the next, that’s what he’ll do, something he showed while coordinating NFL defenses.
Martindale’s Ravens defenses led the league in blitz rate on passing downs his first three seasons, and his groups were never lower than eighth over the last six years. The Wolverines, too, blitzed a lot — 44 percent of the time under Minter in 2023 — and used simulated pressures.
At Michigan, Minter didn’t run exactly what he did when leading the Vanderbilt defense in 2021. It’s fair to assume Martindale will mix things up, as well, playing to the strengths of his players and adapting to facing opponents on a weekly basis.
Klatt loves the Martindale hire, due in large part to the continuity it provides.
“Michigan needed to make a defensive coordinator hire after Jesse Minter followed [head coach] Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers,” Klatt said. “Jesse was great, obviously, and former Michigan defensive defensive coordinator and then Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald got the Seattle Seahawks job. And these guys are stars.
“We all know how successful that style and philosophy was for Michigan over the last three years. Run wall, hard edges, hybrid players in coverage — that’s a philosophy. Reduced down to its most minimal form, that’s the philosophy.
“So, who do they go hire? Sherrone Moore gets the head job, promoted from within, loses all of the defensive staff and yet gets to hire ‘Wink’ Martindale, who comes from Baltimore and [head coach] John Harbaugh. Both Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter coached, cut their teeth, were mentored by ‘Wink’ Martindale. So, philosophy wise, I don’t think a lot is going to change.
“The crucial part is, they’ve been recruiting to and developing to a very specific system and philosophy, and they get to stay in that very specific system and philosophy. I think that’s an important piece.”
Macdonald and Minter — both in their 30s when hired at Michigan — worked out for Harbaugh, a veteran in coaching who’s spent his entire life around football. But Moore, the second-youngest coach in the Big Ten, is entering his first season in charge of a college program with the defending national champions. Surrounding himself with the kind of experience Martindale possesses is another positive that Klatt identified.
“He’s also a veteran, I think that’s important for Sherrone, who’s going to be a head coach for the first time, to have some veteran pieces around him on the coaching staff that he can lean on,” Klatt explained. “‘Wink’ Martindale has been around. He was an assistant under John in Baltimore for 10 years, the last four as the coordinator. He was replaced as Baltimore’s D.C. by Mike Macdonald two years ago. Last time he coached in college was for Jack Harbaugh [at Western Kentucky]; that was 20 years ago. He was an assistant coach under Rick Minter, Jesse Minter’s dad, at the University of Cincinnati in the ‘90s. He’s 60 years old, OK, so you’ve got that veteran presence.
“Just in contrast, Macdonald was 33 when Michigan hired him. Minter was 38. Both Macdonald and Minter were assistants under Martindale. The fit is really good here, and I like the hire from Sherrone.”
While the Wolverines lost most of their starters from last season’s national championship-winning team, immense talent remains on defense, including three potential first-round NFL Draft picks in 2025 in junior cornerback Will Johnson and junior defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
“The truth remains that Sherrone wanted to maintain the philosophy and schematics of what that defense was because of two reasons: That’s specifically how they’ve recruited and specifically how they’ve developed,” Klatt continued. “So, don’t throw it out, don’t change it up. Don’t change front structures.
“You’ve got guys … and that defense should be really good. And how do you keep Will Johnson and Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant — they’ve got dudes and that defense is still going to be very good — keep them in the same philosophy, keep them in the same structure. And that’s what’s going to be happening at Michigan.”
Michigan
College basketball rankings: Michigan holds off Arizona at No. 1 in USA TODAY Sports poll
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Caleb Wilson, Nate Ament, and Kingston Flemings are emerging as names to watch this season.
There is no change at the top in the USA TODAY Sports men’s college basketball coaches poll this week, but the margin for the No. 1 team is much closer.
Michigan is still first, receiving 16 of 31 No.-1 votes while keeping its record clean for another week. But No. 2 Arizona has closed within four poll points of the Wolverines with 14 first-place votes after the Wildcats blew away Alabama to rack up yet another ranked win on the road over the weekend. Duke holds at No. 3 overall, claiming the remaining first-place nod, and Iowa State and Connecticut continue to round out the top five.
TOP 25: Complete USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball poll
In fact, the first 11 positions in the poll are the same. Purdue, Gonzaga, Houston, Michigan State and Brigham Young comprise the lower half of the top 10, with Louisville retaining the 11th spot.
Vanderbilt climbs two spots to No. 12 as Alabama slides four places to 16th. Nebraska makes the week’s biggest jump, a gain of seven positions to No. 15 after the unbeaten Cornhuskers defeated Illinois on the road.
No new teams enter the Top 25, as Iowa hangs on to the final spot after a loss to Iowa State.
Michigan
Bodies of missing snowmobilers recovered from icy Michigan lake
MASON COUNTY, MI – The bodies of two missing snowmobilers were found Sunday morning.
Two Grand Haven men were recovered by first responders in six feet of water on Dec. 14 in Round Lake off Sugar Grove Road in Mason County’s Sheridan Township.
The riders, aged 65 and 49, were reported missing at 12:30 a.m. after their family had not heard from them for several hours, according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.
At first, through family of the missing, police believed the two may have been snowmobiling on trails in Lake County.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office started searching trails in attempts to locate them.
Around 4:30 a.m., the search expanded to include eastern Mason County.
A searcher located snowmobile tracks leading onto Round Lake off Sugar Grove Road. A further search showed no tracks leaving the lake.
Due to darkness and heavy snowfall, a check of the lake from shore could not be performed.
At first light, police saw what appeared to be a snowmobile helmet several hundred yards offshore on the ice.
Mason County Sheriff’s Office launched a drone when weather permitted and spotted a hole in the ice.
There was a helmet at the hole.
Rescuers attempted to get to the area, but kept falling through the ice, making rescue efforts impossible, the press release stated.
The Michigan State Police Dive Services Team and Mason County dive team were called to assist and made their way onto the ice.
An airboat from the Manistee County Sheriff’s Office responded to support recovery efforts.
While the team worked to get to the hole in the ice, an MSP diver fell through the ice, but was properly tethered to another diver and was pulled from the ice unharmed.
Law enforcement recovered the bodies in approximately six feet of water. Two snowmobiles were also found submerged under the ice.
The Ludington Police Department, United States Coast Guard-Manistee, Michigan DNR-Law Enforcement, Branch Township Fire Department, Carr Fire Department, Fountain Area Rescue, Free Soil Fire Department, Hamlin Fire Department, Irons Fire Department, Luther Fire Department, Pleasant Plains Fire Department, Manistee Fire Department and Norman Township Fire Department all assisted at the scene.
Michigan
Urban Meyer reacts to Sherrone Moore scandal after coach’s shock Michigan firing
One of the best college football coaches of all time, Urban Meyer, lent some sympathy to Sherrone Moore — or at least his family — in the wake of the former Michigan head coach’s shocking firing last week.
“Last night, I said a prayer for that family,’’ Meyer said on “The Triple Option Podcast,” speaking of Moore’s wife and daughters.
“I mean, you’ve got three little girls,’’ said Meyer, who won a national title at Ohio State a little over a decade ago. “You’ve got a guy that was on top of the road a week ago.”
That changed in stunning fashion, as Moore, a married father of three, went from leading the Wolverines to out of a job, fired in Ann Arbor for cause after the university confirmed he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
The situation only worsened when Moore was later arrested after he allegedly broke into the home of the staff member, and during an argument, grabbed butter knives and threatened to kill himself.
On Friday, he was charged with third-degree home invasion, a felony, as well as a pair of misdemeanors — stalking and breaking and entering.
Here’s the latest on former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore
Even Meyer, who created some controversy of his own during a brief, ill-fated tenure as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars — when he was seen on video in 2021 that showed him dancing suggestively with a woman who was not his wife and was later fired before finishing his lone season in Jacksonville — was stunned by Moore’s downfall.
“They’re up 6-0 on the Buckeyes at home,” Meyer said of Michigan’s early lead against rival Ohio State on Nov. 29. “And then, also, you wake up, and they’re in this situation. Rivalries aside, this is all human element. Now, this is something that, from what you read, that’s some serious stuff that went on. And just, all of a sudden, you start seeing the impact. Forget football. Who cares about football?’’
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