Michigan expected to hire ex-Utah HC Kyle Whittingham, reports say

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Michigan football is expected to hire former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham as the program’s head coach, according to multiple reports on Dec. 26.

Whittingham stepped down as the Utes‘ head coach after the 2025 season, in which the team went 10-2. He was Utah’s head coach for 21 years and was with the program for 32 years. He served as the school’s defensive coordinator starting in 1995 and was ex-Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s defensive coordinator at Utah for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Whittingham was elevated to head coach at Utah in December 2004 after Meyer departed for Florida. In October 2025, Meyer called Whittingham “as good a football coach as I’ve ever been around.”

Whittingham had a 177-88 record over 18 seasons. He totaled seven or more wins 17 times and had eight seasons of 10 wins or more. During his best season at Utah in 2008, the Utes went 13-0 and beat Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl.

Whittingham has faced the Buckeyes once in his head coaching career. In the 2022 Rose Bowl, the No. 6 Buckeyes beat the No. 11 Utes 48-45. Utah led 35-21 before Ohio State came back with help from wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba, who set the single-game receiving yards and receptions record for a Buckeye (347 receiving yards, 15 catches).

Michigan began its head coaching search after firing previous head coach Sherrone Moore for cause on Dec. 10. Michigan said it had found “credible evidence” that Moore “engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”

Utah still has yet to play its bowl game against Nebraska Dec. 31. In Utah’s announcement about Whittingham’s departure, the school said it expects Whittingham to be on the sideline against the Cornhuskers, coaching his final game with the Utes.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex-Utah coach Kyle Whittingham reportedly to be hired by Michigan

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos