When Jim Harbaugh hired Mike Macdonald before the 2021 season, no one knew if it would pay off or not. The old one Baltimore crows The linebackers coach was an acolyte of then-defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and came to Ann Arbor to run the same system with Michigan football.
Macdonald parlayed his year with the Wolverines into the Ravens’ defensive coordinator job, which he parlayed into the Ravens’ head coaching job. Seattle Seahawks. His replacement in Ann Arbor, Jesse Minter, perfected the system he installed and leveraged it to create Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator job.
So when Sherrone Moore was hired to replace Jim Harbaugh, who took over leading the Chargers (and brought Minter with him), he thought the best thing he could do was keep the scheme going. And the best person to do this wasn’t just an acolyte of Wink Martindale – it was Martindale himself.
On Tuesday, Moore appeared on The LAB presented by Wolverine (presented by Champions Circle) and explained his mindset when it came to making his defensive signings. When it came to bringing in Martindale, it wasn’t about getting a big name (although he certainly was), but rather about giving his players what he felt they deserved.
“I wanted to make sure that, I kept that scheme, I kept them intact, I think one, because I think our players are very good at that and they are very good players. And I wanted to make sure they were comfortable first,” Moore said. “And two, if you want to maintain this scheme, then bring in someone who can run this game, and why not the person it actually originated from? That’s how Coach Martindale came about and he’s a wonderful human being – a great, phenomenal coach, but an even better person.”
In addition to Martindale, Moore assembled an experienced defensive team. All three assistants have experience in defensive coordination, and there is also some NFL experience in addition to Martindale’s long tenure in the professional ranks. But just as important, they’ve all played in different college football conferences, meaning they’ve seen just about everything under the sun on both sides of the ball.
“The whole support staff, all the guys around him, the assistants around him, coach Brian Jean-Mary, Lou Esposito and LaMar Morgan, they’re all phenomenal,” Moore said. “And all these guys were coordinators and called the plays, which also gives you even better insight. And the cool thing is they were all in college (and) in the NFL, so they all saw it from different spectrums. The MAC and Conference USA, and then the SEC with (Brian Jean-Mary).
“So I think it’s really awesome that you have this mix of guys and people there. And they all get along very well. And it’s amazing to be around this great group of smart football coaches.”
