Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham: the second oldest coach in the B1G is a new kid on a new block
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Not too long ago, Greg posted yet another piece ranking Big Ten coaches. It was based on Paul Myerberg of USA Today’s annual ranking. In it, Greg Schiano came in at No. 14 of 18 conference coaches.
Of course, the real question is what is theranking based on? Not sure.
Kyle Whittingham, the first year coach at Michigan, is No. 5 on the list. And that is based on…..?
As a reminder, Arnav previewed Michigan the other day.
Whittingham will turn 67 in November, the second oldest Big Ten coach behind Kirk Ferentz. He’s also been a head coach since 2005, giving him a lot of time to rack up wins. And he has.
Before this coming season, Whittingham had only one head coaching job, that of head honcho at the University of Utah. With the Utes, he built a 177-88 record. That included never having a losing season while in the Mountain West (six seasons), only two losing seasons in the PAC 12 (in 13 seasons), and a split of two seasons in the Big XII. He was 11-6 in bowl games. He won a Mountain West Championship in 2008, added two PAC 12 titles, along with four PAC 12 South first place finishes.
The wins brought awards and recognition, too: three different coach of the year awards in 2008 (13-0, Sugar Bowl win), Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year in 2019, and two PAC 12 Coach of the Year awards.
Side bar: Can anyone say Utes without thinking of Joe Pesci and Fred Guinn in My Cousin Vinnie? I digress.
The move to the Big Ten will be a big change for Whittingham. He was raised as a Utahn (And, yes, that is correct. The Utah State Legislature officially codified Utahn (pronounced YOO-tahn) into state law in 2025 to cement it as the universally accepted and preferred spelling, replacing the older and less preferred “Utahan”.) He has only played and coached in the Rockies, at BYU, Eastern Idaho, and Idaho State, before Utah. Yes, he’s been on the west coast with the PAC 12, but has he ever been to New Jersey? Coaching Utah, he was the visitor twice at Michigan (foreshadowing?), once each at Pitt and UNC. As recently as 2022 the Utes visited Florida, and he made it to West Virginia in the Big XII last fall. But, no flights to EWR.
Rutgers is 1-9 all time against Michigan, the lone victory in 2014, the first year in the Big Ten. But the coach then was Brady Hoke. Counting all the interim/acting coaches filling in for Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore during their varied suspensions, Whittingham is the sixth coach of the Wolverines since Hoke last walked the UM sidelines in 2014. And as much as he was brought in to win – as we said, he’s done a lot of it – his biggest goal right now is to bring stability to an athletic department at UM that is reeling. He’s said it himself, that he was brought in to “put the drama to bed.” “The drama was not player-driven,” Whittingham said Thursday. “The players are doing what they’re supposed to do. Knock on wood — because as soon as I say something all hell will break loose — they’re living their lives the right way, and they’re accountable. Unfortunately, the drama came from the adults.” Those adults being Harbaugh, Moore, and now AD Warde Manuel.
Michigan wants an adult, if you will, to be on the sidelines, to be the face of Michigan athletics; that’s the new coach. And barring some really crazy stuff happening, I’m figuring that Whittingham will be in Ann Arbor for as long as he wants….which I also figure is until he retires from coaching.
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