What a difference a year makes.
Last preseason at this time, despite coming off unlikely wins over Ohio State and Alabama, respectively, Sherrone Moore was still seen as a lower-tier coach. Moore was in tier five, also titled 'up-and-down.' But now with Kyle Whittingham leading the charge, the Wolverines appear to be in good hands with the 21-year Utah head coach.
The Athletic renewed its coaching tiers list, and as it was when Whittingham was at Utah last year, he remains in tier two -- 'established winners.'
Here's what The Athletic said about Whittingham this year, noting that some question exactly how this will work out for him in Ann Arbor:
Kyle Whittingham is the only one here without a CFP appearance, but he has three top-15 finishes in the last
five years while working with far less than most of the other programs in this group. He also has an undefeated season in 2008 and two recent Pac-12 titles. Now he controls one of the best-resourced programs, but the Michigan job comes with much higher expectations and scrutiny for this list. His hire was one many in the industry will watch closely.
“Whittingham’s never been in the CFP, but the consistency and longevity gives him a bump,” one agent said.
“I’m sort of 50-50 on Whittingham,” a second agent said. “I think that’s still a very strange hire. You bought a short-term solution to your problem, but that’s not a long-term solution.”
Whittingham's contract is for five years, which in today's college football could be seen as long term. He's 66 years old at this time, and there are certainly questions about how long he intends to stay in the coaching game. But he could be long-term if he brings results and stabilizes the program after the turmoil that Moore foisted upon it.
It should be noted that The Athletic had more praise for the new Michigan football head coach last year, despite him coming off a 5-7 season with the Utes:
Utah’s Kyle Whittingham is coming off a 5-7 season, his first losing year since 2013, but he has taken the Utes to remarkable heights and then sustained. That includes an undefeated season in 2008, a Sugar Bowl win over Nick Saban’s Alabama and consecutive Pac-12 championships in 2021 and '22.
Of course, this year's schedule for the Wolverines is brutal, so it will be incumbent upon Whittingham to win a game or two that no one thinks the maize and blue are capable. Given his track record, it wouldn't surprise if he did just that.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: The Athletic places Michigan's Kyle Whittingham as 'tier two' coach
