Michigan football coordinators find inspiration from golf influencer Bob Does Sports

USA Today

7 hours ago

The Michigan football coaching staff used the golf course for inspiration in more ways than one this offseason.
First and foremost, the Wolverines pride themselves on complementary football. The defense getting key stops to give the offense enough time to out-score the opponent. The offense chewing up clock and getting a lead to force the opposition into obvious situations. Special teams making kicks and flipping the field on punts to set the defense up in an advantageous position.
These are the tenants of Michigan football and something most coaches across the sport do their best to lean into.
While these are the principles coordinators Wink Martindale and Chip Lindsey discuss on a regular basis inside the facility since Lindsey was hired in from North Carolina last offseason, there's another place they've also done so.
'Chip's a great dude,' Martindale said Saturday. 'We get along. We play golf together.'
It's allowed the duo to not only get away from their job − Martindale emphasized "I took my vacation" − but understand the inner workings of the other. A colloquial phrase in the sport goes: "to find a man's true character, play golf with him" and it's important UM's main offensive and defensive minds get to know one another inside and out.
Martindale is in just his second year back in college football after 20 seasons in the NFL. Lindsey, meanwhile, is at his seventh program since 2014, with six separate stints as offensive coordinator (including this one) and a head coaching job at Troy from 2019-21.
'I think it's very important,' Martindale said of getting acclimated with one another. 'It's most important to the players because they see it, you know what I mean? It's not just me and Chip. It's the entire staff defensively and offensively. It goes under the complementary football file, if you will.
'I think that for us to have a successful season, we're going to have to play complementary football. It's going to take all three phases for us to have success."
The golf course didn't just serve as a place to bond, but Martindale found inspiration in one of the unlikeliest of places. Bob Does Sports, a golf YouTube channel run by founder Robby Berger and his buddies "Joey Coldcuts" and "Fat Perez," has more than 1.1 million followers.
Under the pit vipers that Martindale wore across his hat when meeting with reporters the first day U-M put the pads on this fall, the words "Have A Day" in blue could be read across the front of the white cap. This is one of Bob's main catch phrases and something that Martindale has used as a reminder.
"I'm going to get a Maize and Blue hat and have a day," Martindale began. "Like coach (Sherrone) Moore talked about the first meeting, our goals. We're not talking about them anymore. Tomorrow's not promised. Let's have the best day we can have.
"I also like the show Bob Does Sports, golf creators, all those guys: Grant and the Bryan brothers and all that. But I saw those hats and I'm like 'really that's what it's about. Just having the best day you can have today.'"
A former baseball player at Farleigh Dickinson, it's not clear what college team Berger is a fan of (though he is outwardly a New York Yankees fan) although it certainly seems as if the Wolverines will be getting his support this season.
"Consider me the biggest Don 'Wink' Martindale fan on earth moving forward," Berger posted Monday on social media. "Go Blue Wear Maize I guess."
As for when the coordinators are on the links, Lindsey said it's a mix of business and pleasure. He said it's inevitable that they will "talk about football some" but emphasized that the vast majority of their rounds "it's an opportunity for he and I to spend some time together."
"It's a lot of fun," Lindsey said. "He's competitive, likes to have a little wager on it every now and then, which is fun.
'Wink and I hit it off from the very beginning and spent a lot of time together. I think that's important. You got to build that continuity and build that relationship. It's a team game. We need the offense, we need the defense, we need the special teams. We all work together to win a game. And no egos, man. We're just trying to win, and that's the most important thing to us.'
Speaking of winning, who won when the two would get out on the course?
'You can ask him that. We'll see if he's telling the truth,' Martindale smiled when asked first. 'When you ask him that, say, 'Did you hit any nanners?' He calls a dead slice a nanner, which that sounds as country as country can be. 'Ah, I hit a nanner!' I've never heard it called that. So all summer I was saying, 'Hit a nanner.''
Lindsey's rebuttal?
'Don't believe Wink's propaganda."
Seems as though it will be a good thing they'll be working on the same team the rest of the way.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [e-mail] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.