In 2015, Michigan’s football program was set to return to prominence. After nearly a decade of mediocrity, Michigan had pulled off the coaching hire of a lifetime by bringing in Jim Harbaugh. Widely considered
one of the better coaches at either the college or pro level, he instantly brought back the credibility and competitiveness the school was lacking.
But something stood in the way of the Wolverines fully being “back.” They had to play some games first.
The Harbaugh era started with a tough test. The Wolverines were slated to open the 2015 season on the road in the second leg of a home-and-home series against a team that had beat them in Ann Arbor and went 9-4 the year prior — the Kyle Whittingham-coached Utah Utes.
The game was something of a rock fight and turnover-filled, true to form, with the Utes coming out on top, 24-17. Despite all the hype Harbaugh and his squad generated all spring and summer, Whittingham’s squad were there to provide a Lee Corso-esque “Not so fast!” to the college football world.
Harbaugh’s time came and went, and Michigan fans likely wouldn’t trade it for the world thanks to how it ended. Now, that same guy that beat him 10 years ago in his first game is taking over the program.
Of course, the circumstances by which this transition of power is happening isn’t ideal. Looking back to Jan. 2024, it’d be difficult to find a sizable chunk of the fanbase vehemently opposed to Sherrone Moore taking over for Harbaugh. Michigan didn’t really have anywhere else to turn that late in the coaching cycle, and Moore did enough to earn the job on his own merit. But it quickly became apparent he was in over his head when it comes to running a program and managing games, and surely his off-field actions didn’t help matters.
Just two weeks ago, Moore was being arraigned in a courtroom on live television for all to see. Over the past few years, the program has become a punchline thanks to Connor Stallions, Matt Weiss, recruiting violations, and multiple coaches being arrested for DUIs. Multiple staff members have been fired, suspended given show causes, a sign of issues running deep beneath the surface that all the winning helped mask.
To a degree, the athletic department’s reputation has been damaged in spite of the success. With Michigan in need of a hard reset and image restoration, it did its best in this coaching search by hiring someone like Whittingham that has had a squeaky clean record over his 21 years as head coach at Utah. There are few coaches in today’s game that bring the type of character and discipline Michigan was sorely in need of, and it just so happens one of them was available.
In his introductory press conference on Sunday morning in Orlando, athletic director Warde Manuel spoke about Whittingham’s character being a selling point for the university. That trait wasn’t the only thing the Wolverines were after, though, as they’re hiring one of the winningest coaches in the game to take over the sport’s winningest program.
Whittingham is responsible for 177 wins at Utah, one Mountain West championship and two Pac-12 championships. He’s managed to find his success despite being one of the more under-resourced schools in his conferences all thanks to a simple formula of toughness, physicality and player development — a formula that Michigan has used to perfection in recent years.
Folks might be concerned about his age at 66 years old, which has prevented many from labeling this as a truly “A+” hire, and it’s certainly a reality that Whittingham might only be here for a good time, not a long time.
But what if the good time is a really good time?
After all, college football isn’t the same as it was just five years ago. Gone are the days where a coach needs three or four years to build things up for his program. Curt Cignetti spoiled the idea of patience for everyone else by getting Indiana to the point it’s at now. It’s no stretch to think Whittingham can’t do something similar given the financial resources he’ll have at Michigan that should help him land players through high school recruiting and the transfer portal. It won’t hurt for building an all-star staff of assistant coaches either.
Furthermore, there are plenty of examples of coaches finding massive success with programs in only a short amount of time. Urban Meyer was at Florida for just six years and won two national championships. He was at Ohio State for seven years and won another national title while also establishing a culture that’s still thriving under Ryan Day. It only took Nick Saban four years to win a national title at LSU, and three to do so at Alabama. Kalen DeBoer had Washington at 14-1 and competing for a national title in just his second season in Seattle.
Those might be some lofty comparisons, but that’s the kind of company Whittingham has kept throughout his career, routinely being considered a top-10 coach in college football. Even Meyer, his former boss, called him, “the best coach in college football” in 2023. If you can coach, you can coach, and age shouldn’t be a factor there.
There’s no doubt Whittingham still has the fire in him to face a new challenge and has the goal of winning big at Michigan.
“You’ve gotta get to the playoffs. Thats our expectation, that’s my expectation — that’s the bar. I mean, at the University of Michigan, how can it be any different than that?” Whittingham said on Sunday.
Lest we forget Michigan does have a game to play on Wednesday against Texas, while also having the big task at hand in terms of staff construction and roster contention. It’s an immediate challenge for Whittingham as he hopes to keep the program together before things can fully get off the ground. Despite what’s transpired though, he’s ready to take on the challenge and his focus remains on the players in the building.
“I know the gist of what transpired, but it’s not fazing me,” Whittingham said. “The players are a great group of kids. They’re hungry and that’s where my focus is. I’m a football coach, and my focus is on coaching the team.”
In the coming days and weeks, we’ll get a better sense of the identity Whittingham is trying to build in Ann Arbor as he assembles his staff and roster. But there’s no doubt the physicality and toughness that Michigan and Utah have both been synonymous with will be at the center of it. After all the pie in the sky coaching candidates that Michigan and its fans might have been looking at over the last two weeks, it seems pretty clear that Whittingham was the right guy at the right time to lead the Wolverines.
