Well the Ravens have their man. The team announced on Thursday afternoon that Don Martindale will be Baltimore’s new linebackers coach. Martindale replaces Dean Pees who was promoted to defensive coordinator after Chuck Pagano left to coach the Colts.
We all should have known that Jack Del Rio wouldn’t reunite with the Ravens. I cited “different eras” as my reasoning when first discussing candidates to replace Pagano. Del Rio came from the Brian Billick era Ravens, a team and method that the front office and ownership have decided to put behind them.
Martindale comes to Baltimore with 18 years of coaching experience in both the NFL and at the college level. Not surprisingly, he was on Jack Harbaugh’s coaching staff at Western Kentucky.
It seems that the Harbaugh family tree is becoming the Ravens index for coaching vacancies.
Here’s a fun little game. Next time the Ravens need to replace a coach, just start looking at people near Jack, Jim or John.
Have these personal relationships held the Ravens back? Look at Baltimore’s most controversial non-fire, Cam Cameron. Despite Joe Flacco’s numbers declining in 2011, Cameron still hangs on as the Ravens offensive coordinator. Did you know that Cameron was hired by John Harbaugh as an assistant 1997 at Indiana University? Did you know that Cameron was the Jim Harbaugh’s quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan?
Steve Bisciotti and Ozzie Newsome have put all their eggs in the Harbaugh basket. Four straight trips to the postseason and two to the AFC championship are hard to argue against. I just hope that when the Ravens have to make coaching changes, the decision is affected by these long relationships that have been established.
Zach Wilt is the Founding Editor of BaltimoreSportsReport.com and Host of the BSR Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @zamwi or send him an email: zach@baltimoresportsreport.com.
Thank goodness you’re writing this kind of stuff. God knows the Sun would never point this out.
Because the clown Harbaugh wants “Yes” men who won’t question him or upstage him. Harbaugh will never get this team to a Super Bowl because he doesn’t know how to coach.
Harbaugh is an arrogant, insecure guy whose players don’t like him and the assistant coaches fight with him.
4 years as a Head Coach and he doesn’t know to call a timeout with a Super Bowl trip on the line. I’ll bet you Ray Lewis is ticked off as shit with this crap. His career winding down and the coach doesn’t have his head in the game costing a trip to the Super Bowl.
Agree , I have never seen a head coach look as dumfounded as harbaugh does during crunch time of the games,,,,,,,,,,,,,most decent coaches look like they are focused and Harbs looks like a deer in the headlights…………..No super bowl rings for this guy and we the fans get screwed by the corporate America coach who believes in the buddy , buddy system………….
Yet the minions here in Baltimore are firmly entrenched in the Harbaugh foxhole. We’ve become the new Philadelphia Eagles, good enough to get close, not good enough to get the job done.
Oh well, I guess we can stock up on Ravens Playoff gear every year. It’s fun pretending they might go to the Super Bowl.