Wink Martindale Faces the Reality of Change at Michigan: “It’s Real Life”
There’s a certain weight in Wink Martindale’s voice these days - the kind that only comes with decades in the game and a deep understanding of what coaching life really entails. As Michigan football undergoes a major transition, Martindale, the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator, isn’t sugarcoating the moment.
He’s seen this before. He knows the drill.
But that doesn’t make it any easier.
With Sherrone Moore out and former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham stepping in to lead the program, the winds of change are blowing hard through Ann Arbor. And while the headlines may focus on schemes, staff hires, and bowl prep, Martindale is focused on something far more human: the lives behind the whistles.
“First of all, I know what we signed up for in coaching, in the profession itself,” Martindale said. “You know, moving - my wife has moved enough.”
That’s not just a throwaway line. For Martindale, who’s been coaching for over four decades, the nomadic lifestyle of football coaching is second nature.
But it’s also exhausting. And for the younger coaches on staff - many with families just starting to put down roots - the uncertainty can be brutal.
Running back Jordan Marshall touched on that reality earlier this week, calling college football “a business” when asked about the recent coaching shakeups. It’s a sentiment echoed by players from Texas as well, who watched their own defensive coordinator, Pete Kwiatkowski, get replaced by Will Muschamp ahead of their bowl game. The message is clear: loyalty in this game has a short shelf life.
But for Martindale, this transition hits a little deeper. He’s not just losing colleagues - he’s watching a tight-knit football family get pulled apart. When asked how he and the staff are dealing with the change, the 65-year-old veteran didn’t shy away from the emotion.
“I don’t know if ‘handle it’ is the right word,” he said. “It’s just… it’s a tough situation.
It’s hard because of not only the relationships that you have - we’ve become family. We actually spend more time, as far as the coaches themselves, the assistants, more time together than we do with our families.”
Then came the pause. The kind that says more than words ever could.
“With Twitter and everything else, it’s entertainment for people to see all this, but I get emotional talking about it - it’s real life,” he continued. “There are little ones that have to be uprooted from school and things like that. So it sucks.”
Let’s be clear - this is a man who’s spent a lifetime barking out defensive signals, breaking down film until sunrise, and building units that hit like freight trains. But in this moment, Martindale wasn’t a coordinator. He was a husband, a mentor, and a friend watching his people face the uncertainty that comes with a coaching regime change.
And yet, despite the emotion, Martindale remains focused. There’s still a game to play. Michigan has Texas lined up in a high-stakes bowl matchup, and preparation hasn’t skipped a beat.
“I’m to the point where I want to look out for them,” he said of his fellow assistants. “I want to get them a job and whatever else comes from it.
But they’re professionals. They’ve prepared the same way for this game as they have for every other game.”
That’s the balancing act right now in Ann Arbor - staying locked in on the field while the future off it remains a giant question mark. For assistants like Biff Poggi and the rest of the staff, it’s about finishing strong, even as the ground shifts beneath them.
Martindale, with his deep well of connections and experience, might be able to help some of these coaches land on their feet. But he knows better than anyone that nothing is guaranteed in this business. What matters now is showing up, finishing the job, and doing right by the people in the room.
Come January, the next chapter begins. But until then, the mission is clear: beat Texas, hold the line, and support each other through one of the toughest parts of the coaching life - the part fans rarely see.