We are roughly two months into the Kyle Whittingham era, and the vibes in and around the Michigan Football program are significantly higher than when the other guy was in town. Whittingham was successful in retaining much of last year’s team and incoming recruiting class, while also bringing in a handful of difference-making players through the transfer portal like John Henry Daley, Smith Snowden, JJ Buchanan and Salesi Moa, to name a few.
Now that the dust has settled a bit and we have a much better
idea of what each team across college football will look like in 2026, CBS Sports took the liberty of recently assigning letter grades to all the new head coach hires, and that includes Michigan’s.
Here’s what CBS Sports’ Richard Johnson had to say and why he gave the Whittingham hire an “A” grade:
It wasn’t exactly a stunner that Kyle Whittingham stepped down at Utah — he had been on retirement watch annually as he got older — but it was surprising that he ended up back in the game at Michigan. His identity should play well with the Wolverines, and the offense run by Jason Beck is tailor-made for Bryce Underwood. Grade: A
Whittingham was one of four coaches to receive an “A” grade from Johnson, including UCLA’s Bob Chesney, Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris and Virginia Tech’s James Franklin.
I think given the situation Michigan was in, Warde Manuel and company couldn’t have done much better here. Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer was always going to be a long shot, especially after the Tide beat Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff. And while Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham would have also been a slam dunk hire in my opinion, it didn’t seem like the Wolverines were all in on him. So getting a longtime successful head coach like Whittingham provides the program with some needed stability and an adult in the room to lead the way, a couple things the previous regime lacked.
All that said, I think it’s silly to give any coaching hire an “A” grade until we see the product on the field and how the players respond to him, especially when adversity hits. Nobody would have given the Jim Harbaugh hire grade an “A” in the spring of 2021, but after winning three straight Big Ten titles and one national title, it’s safe to give that an “A” grade. So for now, I’d give the Whittingham hire a “B” grade, with room for that grade to move up if all goes well during his time here.
Now that we’ve had a couple months to digest the news, what grade would you give the Whittingham hire? Let me know your grade down in the comments section below!
