My sense is (with no statistical deep dive to back it up) that Seth et al are not completely wrong about Wink…

Posted on September 4, 2026 at 04:48:41 PM by Craig

Seth is very wrongheaded, overall, on the subject IMO, but there were some very bizarre aspects of the Wink era defense: the uncanny ability to bring the house at the most inopportune times, the bizarre over-participation of more marginal players in the rotation, the weird shit like Mason Graham at DE, the general inability to defend 3rd and long, and so on.

I’m not the slightest bit disappointed that we’ve parted ways with Wink, but he did achieve pretty decent results overall. I mean, of course it was probably going to be a drop off from 2023, right? Our last two DCs before him are now NFL HCs, and one just won the Super Bowl.

Back to the board

Thread:

My sense is (with no statistical deep dive to back it up) that Seth et al are not completely wrong about Wink… - By Craig September 4, 2026 at 04:48:41 PM
- Seth was right, but it’s over. Jay hill is the dc. Move on* - By ameriKa September 4, 2026 at 09:48:01 PM
- I think he was broadly correct but trips over his own dick when he tries getting too into the weeds and became obsessed with Wink* - By LewisBullox September 4, 2026 at 05:45:47 PM
- There are completely objective ways to criticize Wink. - By GritsGoBlue September 4, 2026 at 05:32:15 PM
- Wink's philosophy is pretty simplistic imo. and the way opponents punished his tendencies (USC game) was comical* - By 6p September 4, 2026 at 05:18:38 PM
  - Right, the missed tackles had no impact, it was all SCHEME.* - By MasterBates September 4, 2026 at 06:42:53 PM
    - I know this is your schtick, but there weren't guys there to make tackles half of the time against USC.* - By Bluebuck September 4, 2026 at 07:05:23 PM
- It became comical how often his blitzes were immediately destroyed, often by a perfect play call. Either he sucks or he's really unlucky.* - By jjwalker September 4, 2026 at 04:55:10 PM
  - They worked really well against Milroe. A lot of it is personnel and IMO position coaches - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:00:09 PM
    - the good things were due to Wink and the bad things were due to the personnel* - By 6p September 4, 2026 at 05:24:34 PM
      - Ha, maybe. Who knows. Seriously though I think we had bad positional assistants... - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:28:37 PM
- I think Seth was right about Wink in many ways and it led to Seth thinking that Wink was 100% awful at everything. - By Bluebuck September 4, 2026 at 04:52:01 PM
  - Also, I believe Wink, who did not announce his retirement, has not been hired anywhere - By jon September 4, 2026 at 04:58:01 PM
    - I think Chip Lindsey is a perfectly fine, but not elite, OC. His freshman QB clearly needed a QB coach, and the head coach was a stubborn caveman who influenced the way we played.* - By Bluebuck September 4, 2026 at 05:05:33 PM
      - Agreed. Now Kirk was awful* - By LewisBullox September 4, 2026 at 05:49:34 PM
      - Right, and Wink was actually a disaster - By jon September 4, 2026 at 05:27:57 PM
        
        Coordinators do less technique teaching than the assistants. If he was guilty of anything it was expecting - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:30:36 PM
        
        The buck stops with the DC. But Jon is right, Seth repeatedly predicted in advance the ways Wink would do stupid shit, and it proved out time and again. He demonstrably proved his argument. - By jjwalker September 4, 2026 at 05:44:38 PM
        
        The question is if he had played it safer, would that have helped. I still think we lose those 3 games... - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:50:25 PM
        
        That's A question, it's not the only question. I don't accept your dichotomy... - By jjwalker September 4, 2026 at 06:20:29 PM
        
        What I am saying is that if Wink does the opposite and it ends up the same, is Seth really right? I mean he is right in that he can pick out Wink's tendencies - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 06:25:32 PM
        
        You don't judge the performance of an assistant coach solely based on whether the game was won or lost. (nm) - By suede September 4, 2026 at 05:56:40 PM
        
        Good Tsar Bad Boyars* - By 6p September 4, 2026 at 05:34:25 PM
      - Good summary* - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:16:11 PM
    - Michigan is paying him 2.7 mill this year. No need to work* - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:00:46 PM
  - Minter gave up 37 points to TCU. Bad games happen. Most of the USC mistakes were on the players. Yeah, blitz less - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 04:56:40 PM
    - The USC gameplan was absolutely asinine. (nm) - By suede September 4, 2026 at 04:58:31 PM
      - And it took forever for him to even try to change things up. Lloydesque stubbornness.* - By jjwalker September 4, 2026 at 04:59:28 PM
- He sucked. Seth is right on the merits and extremely wrong on how he made the case. (nm) - By suede September 4, 2026 at 04:49:21 PM
  - Seth should be giddy about Hill. He says he patterns his D off the 2023 Michigan defense. * - By Rich September 4, 2026 at 05:20:19 PM
  - I think he was average but just get irate when Seth is like “USC TEs are just WRs so pretend you are defending 4 wide”. He grossly over simplifies everything* - By harbaughdyssey September 4, 2026 at 05:08:54 PM

The Victors

My sense is (with no statistical deep dive to back it up) that Seth et al are not completely wrong about Wink…