Joel Klatt says Kyle Whittingham perfect hire for Michigan football

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While many Michigan football fans were moaning and groaning about the hire of Kyle Whittingham as the team's 22nd head coach, level heads prevailed in many ways. Especially among the pundits in the national media.

With everything that has gone on in Ann Arbor in recent weeks, months, and years, it's generally been a layup for the national media to pile onto anything involving the Wolverines, yet with Kyle Whittingham joining the program, the voices that have tended to be vicious have been significantly more sanguine, if not outright praiseworthy.

Now, Fox Sports' premier color commentator, Joel Klatt, isn't exactly one who has spewed venom in Michigan's direction at any time in recent memory, but of course, the Wolverines had to get the head coaching choice right. And in his eyes, this was a home run hire for the maize and blue.

"All of a sudden, they land on Kyle Whittingham. And I got to tell you, this is an incredible fit," Klatt said. "And I, for one, assumed that he was just done coaching. Listen, I've had several conversations with Kyle over the years. And you guys, you've listened to some of the shorts, and you've listened to this podcast, I'm sure — before, you'll know that I think he is a wonderful coach and he's got the highest integrity. I love the way that his teams play. I love the way that he talks about his players because he talks about them with love. He cares for his players. My highest compliment that I can ever repay is that, hey, I would love my sons if they ever played college football to go play for Kyle Whittingham. I still feel that way."

Klatt doesn't just think this is a home run hire, but it may be a championship-winning one.

He's often shared how Utah is undervalued in the grander college football landscape, as Utah wasn't ever really a premier program, yet, under Whittingham, it's often been a top 15 team or better. Given that the Utes haven't had the Wolverines' resources, he believes (or at least believes that Whittingham believes) that the combination of forces could have a special outcome if everything goes right.

"He is a winner. He's going to go to the Hall of Fame. And now he's going to go to Michigan because he looks at this as an opportunity to actually go out there and compete for a national championship," Klatt said. "He didn't say this verbatim, but I think that there is an underlying thing here of like, OK, like you can do it there. Whereas at Utah, I always felt like it was an uphill climb, whereas at Michigan, you can do it. You can go win a national title. They are funded. They've got everything that they need. Not that Utah doesn't, but it's an uphill battle. And he would know that uniquely so because he spent 30-plus years there. All right.

"So he goes there, and he says, 'Michigan is a special place.' He says, 'A legitimate opportunity to win a national championship.' He says, 'It's happened here. So I looked at it as a final challenge.' So it makes sense for him as well. I got to tell you, like at the risk of throwing out old takes exposed here: this seems like a tremendous fit. This seems like a home run because it checks off all of these boxes, all of these challenges. And I didn't think that that was possible to be honest with you."

Whittingham has taken over the program, but he won't truly be coaching the team until after the Wolverines' Cheez-It Citrus Bowl turn on December 31 against Texas.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Joel Klatt calls Kyle Whittingham an 'incredible fit' at Michigan

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