Submitted photo / U-M Photography
Michigan co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale addresses the defense during the Wolverines’ 34-27 win over Maryland on Sept. 24 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Steve Clinkscale never expected that he would be what he is today — a football coach.
The Youngstown native and Chaney product earned his bachelor’s degree in sports science with a concentration in therapeutic recreation from Ashland University, and coaching wasn’t something he necessarily saw in the cards during his formative years.
After completing his football career at Ashland, where he was a team captain and four-year starter at defensive back, Clinkscale was on the lookout for what was next.
At the same time, Clinkscale’s position coach at Ashland got married and started a family and decided that he wouldn’t be able to dedicate the time necessary to coach. So, at the recommendation of his position coach, Ashland’s head coach at the time, Gary Keller, reached out to Clinkscale to gauge his interest in the job.
“I had no experience or anything,” Clinkscale said.
But in the end, it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
“(Keller) just said, the way you carry yourself as a player, the way you’ve always been a guy who speaks his mind at the right time — I need men like that around me,” Clinkscale said. “That’s how I got my first opportunity.”
Clinkscale said his mother wasn’t surprised that coaching ended up being his calling card.
“I asked my mother if she ever knew (I’d become a coach),” Clinkscale said. “She said, ‘you’ve always been a coach, a leader and a person who’s always been a go-getter.’ You’ve always been able to communicate, and these are her words, ‘boss people around.’ So she felt that I always had those qualities to be a coach and now it’s gotten to where it’s taken off for me.”
Since his coaching career began at Ashland in 2001, Clinkscale has climbed the college football ranks.
He’s had stops at Western Carolina, Toledo, Illinois, Cincinnati and Kentucky before finally arriving at Michigan last year, all while learning new things from different people at each school.
“When I was at Ashland, we got let go, but then got rehired (by the new head coach) and we were able to turn it around and go to the playoffs my last year,” Clinkscale said. “At Western Carolina, I learned a lot about coaching in the south and different situations. Then when we took over at Toledo, they were declining, and we were able to get Toledo back where they’ve been in their history and win a lot of games. Got promoted, went to Illinois, then Cincinnati with Tommy Tuberville and were able to keep the ship going in the right direction.
“Then at Kentucky, we went to a bowl game every year I was there. (We) developed a lot of players that went on to the NFL and developed relationships with Vince Marrow and Mark Stoops. Vince Marrow happens to be my cousin. Mark Stoops did a lot for me and helped me understand more about DB play and just all around what it takes to be a factor in these young men’s lives, which put me on the diving board to lead me to the University of Michigan.”
Under head coach Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Clinkscale said that he has found a “home” and a place where he wants to stay long term.
“I found a head coach who understands me and allows me to coach, mentor and teach the way I like to do it,” Clinkscale said. “Being with different coordinators has helped me as well, just understanding my personality and I let it shine out there on the field with the players.”
The ethos that exists within Michigan’s program is very similarly aligned with Clinkscale’s coaching philosophy.
“I love the players here, the culture and everything that Michigan represents as a school,” Clinkscale said. “It’s what I’ve been looking for my whole life. The last time I had this much discipline and consistency in the program and fun winning games and winning championships goes back to my days at Chaney.”
He started off as defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator with the Wolverines last year, but this year Clinkscale was promoted to co-defensive coordinator, in addition to his ongoing duties coaching the defensive backs.
“There’s been a lot of people in my life that have been influential,” Clinkscale said. “I’m just really appreciative, and I really go out and give it my all for those people who look up to us or admire us or we just give them something to fight for. I always want to continue to be that type of person.”
This season, his second in Ann Arbor, Clinkscale has helped spearhead a Michigan defense that is top 5 in the country in points (13.4, fifth) and yards (277.1, third) allowed per game, while also helping lead the Wolverines to their second straight Big Ten championship, win over rival Ohio State and appearance in the College Football Playoff.
“We want to prove people wrong in my DB room,” Clinkscale said. “We want to prove everybody wrong, shut them up, shut up the critics and prove them wrong and go out there each week and prove to the world that God has blessed us and given us the ability to go out there and continue to win games.”
The chip on Clinkscale’s shoulder, as well as his work ethic and blue collar mentality, can be traced back to his deep Youngstown roots.
Clinkscale was born on the east side of Youngstown, where he spent a chunk of his childhood growing up, until he was about 7 or 8 years old, when his family moved to Norwood Avenue on the north side, near Brier Hill.
Clinkscale’s football journey began when he started playing for the New Bethel Braves as part of the historic Volney Rogers youth football league on the South Side.
“I learned how to play football, I learned how to be tough, I learned how to be physical and I learned how to be a teammate and win,” Clinkscale said. “We had some great teams there.”
The issues that have affected the city of Youngstown and its residents through the years are well documented. Growing up on the north side, Clinkscale saw those “hardships and situations” firsthand.
He knew early on that he wanted to be “different.”
“Seeing all that around me in my environment really motivated me to make a change,” Clinkscale said. “(I didn’t want) to fall into everything that society and our community was going through at the time.”
He credits his parents for guiding him and his siblings to strive for more.
“My parents did a great job with myself, my brother Mike, who actually played at Wake Forest, my brother Chris, who ran track at Wheeling Jesuit, and my sister, who’s a nurse now,” Clinkscale said. “(They) sacrificed and gave us the opportunity to do bigger and better things and see things a little bit differently than a lot of people at the time in Youngstown.”
Those Youngstown and Mahoning Valley ties have helped him recruit local talent to make the leap to play at the college level.
Michigan has developed quite a footprint in the Mahoning Valley thanks to Clinkscale. In addition to Chaney’s Jason Hewlett and DJ Waller both signing with the Wolverines on Early Signing Day last week, Fitch junior Brian Robinson and sophomore Allen Hill Jr. have received scholarship offers from Michigan, while senior DJ Williams also took a visit to Ann Arbor.
“They’re very talented, first of all,” Clinkscale said of players in the Valley. “They know how to work as a team, and they have the hunger and drive to be successful. It’s not just talent that gets you where you need to be. You have to love the game of football, you have to work hard and you gotta have that drive and desire to gain something that other people feel you’re not able to gain. A lot of kids from Youngstown, that’s how they’re wired.”
A lot of what Clinkscale has learned about recruiting Youngstown, the Mahoning Valley and northeast Ohio comes from his time on staff at Kentucky, where he worked with Stoops and Marrow, both also Youngstown natives.
“I learned a lot about how to recruit the state,” Clinkscale said. “I always go and find a way to go back to Youngstown, Cleveland and northeast Ohio. We find a way to continue to bridge the gap between the young players and ourselves and give them the opportunity, opportunities that we weren’t given sometimes, even if we felt we earned it. It’s the way to go back and get those guys the opportunity to get out of Youngstown and go and be successful … give those young men the opportunity to play at Michigan and get a degree from Michigan and win a Big Ten title and play in the College Football Playoff.”
In the end, even though his coaching journey has taken him elsewhere, Clinkscale has never forgotten his Youngstown roots.
“I don’t just pave the way for me, my kids and my family,” Clinkscale said. “I’m paving the way for the young men and women in Youngstown because Youngstown is who I am through and through.”
nmadhavan@tribtoday.com
