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People are making a big deal about this anecdote.
“[Aaron Glenn] brought in veteran coach Wink Martindale for a second interview on Jan. 24, creating the perception that he had found his new defensive coordinator,” wrote ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “There are conflicting versions of why he didn’t get the job, centering on whether Glenn had decided between the first and second interview to remove playcalling from the coordinator job.
“Martindale’s interest was based on his ability to run his own defense, and he came away from the second meeting under the impression that Glenn had changed the parameters of the job, according to a source close to Martindale.
“About a week earlier, Glenn had attended organizational meetings at owner Woody Johnson’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. The timing of those meetings, coupled with the seemingly abrupt end to Martindale’s candidacy, fueled speculation that Johnson, who has a reputation for meddling, had instructed Glenn to run the defense himself.”
I want to make something clear before I continue: I’m not a special pleader for Woody, who clearly meddles too much, and it’s hard to say he’s been a great owner when the team has missed the playoffs 15 years in a row.
However, if this story is true, what’s the problem?
You hire a head coach who made his bones on defense.
He comes in and decides to farm out the defense to a coordinator, Steve Wilks, who he has no background with, was fired after one year on his last DC job, and that experiment failed miserably.
Now, you are going to go out and hire Martindale, another guy he never worked with, and farm out the defense again to somebody who doesn’t run his system?
So I’m sorry, whether this bothers people or not, if Woody told Glenn to run the defense himself, good for him.
If you are going to hire a defensive coordinator, shouldn’t he at least run your system, the one that helped you get the head coaching job in the first place?
Good for Woody. He’s paying the guy top dollar, probably north of $10 million a year – you run the defense, man!
This idea it could take away from managing the game. Well, the game management, with the HC staying clear of calling the defense last year to focus on that, wasn’t that great.
Once again, I’m not saying he’s been the best owner, but that isn’t going to cloud my judgment and lead me to shoot down every decision he makes.
That is not critical thinking.
On paper, this idea of hiring Brian Duker, who knows Glenn’s defensive system thoroughly, as the de facto defensive coordinator, and having him work with Glenn hand in glove on the defense – game-planning, play-calling, and so forth, is not a bad plan.
It’s time for Glenn to run his defense, and while Woody is sometimes accused of pulling in purse strings, perhaps advised by his two top lieutenants, both financial guys, but if he didn’t want to spend a lot of money on Martindale, I have no issue with that.
Good for Woody by putting his foot down, if that is indeed what happened (hard to say without being in Woody’s house in Palm Beach for the owner’s meeting with Glenn).
February 18, 2026
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