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I think he was the perfect hire for Michigan to clean up their act, as he has the finest image. We have an editor for FishDuck.com, who has helped our writers for over a decade, and she is an avid buckeye fan. When urban Meyer left, she knew quite a bit about Urban and Whittingham working together at Utah, and she wanted Whitt to replace Meyer, not Ryan Day,. Even a few years later, she repeated that preference, although I think she is probably happy with last year‘s result.

Still in the stop gap range. He's in his 70s does he want to coach beyond 5 years? Probably not... But he has enough time to right the ship and make a run of it.

Well Urban went to Ohio State, and his successor went to Michigan. Who knew that Utah bred future coaches for 'The Game'.

There’s a reason Oregon pops in the graphic below (and on the field), and it’s not because of white and gray. Let’s stick with yellow and green.

Three To-Dos for Whit - https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/michigan-hires-kyle-whittingham-utah-next-steps-underwood-poggi

Sounds like he may have gotten a bit of the treatment Bellotti got: https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-utes/2025/12/27/opinion-new-michigan-coach-kyle/

Northwestern 34 - Central Michigan 7 Minnesota 20 - New Mexico 17 With OBD's defeat of JMU and UW's defeat of Boise State, the B1G, to date, is 4-0 in the postseason. Tomorrow, Penn State vs Clemson - 9 AM ABC. https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/jalen-smiths-second-diving-td-grab-wins-rate-bowl-as-minnesota-denies-new-mexico-first-10-win-season-since-1982-015648588.html Northwestern recap - https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/preston-stone-throws-3-tds-northwestern-has-4-takeaways-in-347-victory-over-central-michigan

Great hire for Michigan and a great fit Whit...... KW earned everything he received at Utah, including anunlimited supply of patience. Football is not life and death for the Utes administration and fans. That will not be the case at Michigan. It is a short leach at best. Either way, congratulations to KW! He earned this moment.

He understood the assignment. He also was noticeably worn out in the JMU post game press conference per some reports. Dan Lanning and the new DC may have to do some heavier lifting on the defensive side from here on out if Tosh is too compromised from his Cal duties.

CBS Sports - This was a 'perfect hire' for Michigan https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/michigan-hires-kyle-whittingham-coach/

This makes me think his Utah departure wasn't his idea....

Looks like the contract is for 5 years ESPN.comSources: Whittingham, U-M agree to 5-year dealKyle Whittingham has agreed to a five-year deal to become Michigan's next head coach, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel on Friday.

On Friday, Dec. 5, Lupoi was at his introductory press conference at 12:30 pm, in Berkeley, having flown that morning from Eugene. 12 hours later, 12:45 a.m., Saturday morning he was at Sagapolutele's house in Hawaii.

It’s about to be 2026 and that was almost 20 years ago. In the modern era the right coach can get a terrible program into the playoff inside of 12 months of hire. Can Whit operate in 2026 from scratch? Will UM tolerate him going 8-4, but doing it the right way? Very far from a sure thing here imo.

This feels like a stop gap hire. Without seeing the contract and being in the room I'm not sure how long they are anticipating Whittingham to be there. I kinda think 2-3 seasons. Enough time to get Michigan on track and make the playoff a time or two before looking for a younger coach. Or ... Not. More resources makes some elements of coaching easier and others a whole lot more difficult... Namely the expectations. Whittingham has always been a coach to get more from less but as we've seen that doesn't always translate to higher level programs.

Ten years ago, this would have concerned me a little but I’m not sure Coach Wittingham still has it. I guess we’ll see. His teams were always well coached and played hard.

Let's see, shall we? Matt Campbell is 46 years old, with his own bona fides as an HC working with fewer resources than he will have at Michigan. After being hired, Campbell made a very smart move by keeping interim coach Terry Smith, who played ball for Joe Petino and has been one of PSU's top recruiters since 2014. Like Nick Saban, Campbell's first HC job was with Toledo, and he recruited from Gateway High School in Monroeville, PA, where Smith built a high school powerhouse. Smith should be instrumental in keeping current players with the team. A fun and interesting game tomorrow, 9 AM on ESPN, sees PSU vs. Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. Campbell will be there (DUH!), but Smith is the HC for this game. There are a lot of coaches PSU and Michigan could have hired who would have given me less concern for OBD down the road. Both of these coaches are prototypical Big Ten coaches. Oregon hosts Michigan next season and is at Michigan in 2027. Penn State visits OBD in 2027.

2008, when Utah went 13-0 and defeated Saint Nick and Bama in the Sugar Bowl, is arguably Utah's finest season with Whit with the program? Here's the counterargument: Ooops, I hear Crickets 😁.

Penn State right now looking at Michigan:

I think this is a great hire for Michigan https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/michigan-kyle-whittingham-coach-utah/

Cal is the team that recruited and developed Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff under previous coaching staffs. It only made sense for Lupoi to pull out all the stops to keep JKS. They could become a significant Oregon (USuC) rival for the best talent in California, but it will take time and a UC administration and Board of Regents that gives a crap about sports

Well, whadda ya know.

After 63 years of life out west (born in San Luis Obispo, 40 year coaching career in either Utah or Idaho), he might find it a challenge to navigate the dense political sports culture and its expectations that saturates Ann Arbor. If he has the patience and willingness to accommodate their absurd and unrealistic pipe dreams, they’ll have themselves a winner.

Gotta admit I'm pretty surprised, I figured he'd be skiing and riding his Harley this year. They got a good one, although it seems that he may be another placeholder at his age.

Josh Pate seems to confirm it.