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Michigan is officially Kyle Whittingham's team now as he met with the media in Orlando. The veteran head coach spoke for nearly 30 minutes after being introduced as the 22nd head coach in the history of Michigan football and he had some phenomenal things to say. 

1. "I already met with one player, you can probably guess who that was — our quarterback Bryce Underwood."

First off, excellent move by Whittingham. Get in front of Underwood, pick his brain, listen as he said and sell the talented signal caller on your vision and on how successful he can be in the offense. It's incredibly important that Whittingham bond with Underwood out of the gate and inform him and perhaps even involve him in the offensive coordinator hiring process.

Secondly, I love how Whittingham said "our quarterback…" when addressing Underwood. He didn't say, "I talked to, Bryce", or the quarterback, he said OUR quarterback. This is a seasoned coach who knows what to say and how to say it, and more importantly, how to form long-lasting, genuine relationships with people and he's already started that with Underwood.

2. "Immediate priorities — roster retention. That is absolutely job one."

He's not wrong. He goes on to mention the transfer portal and NIL opportunities and how you basically have to re-recruit your own roster constantly. This is a new roster for Whittingham but he's already identified Underwood as target No. 1, 2, and 3, and he's jumping all the way in when it comes to meeting with players and figuring out who is going to be a part of what he's doing moving forward. 

Some of that will depend on who he hires as his assistants, which may take a little time, but it's great to hear that he wants to retain and keep as much of the high-end talent as possible. That's not exactly a trade secret, but it is important so it's good to hear Whittingham mention it as something that's important.

3. "That will be the trademark and the identity of this football team — physicality, toughness and grit."

Football fans in the state of Michigan love when Lions head coach Dan Campbell says stuff like this so it should go over well at U-M with Whittingham. The important distinction here is that you know it's not lip service. With the long-time Utah coach you know he's going to bring those qualities because he's been doing it for more than 20 years out in Salt Lake City.

Utah consistently had tough, hard-nosed teams that ran the ball well and played solid defense. That's exactly what Michigan football has always been about so those philosophies should be easy to install in Ann Arbor.

Whittingham even said himself that he and his Utah teams were always the toughest in the conference and that winning the line of scrimmage gives you a chance to win every game. Now we're going to see that in the Winged Helmets.

4. "Of the 10 full-time coaches, seven or eight new guys and two or three holdovers."

That's about as transparent as I've ever heard a coach be when talking about what his new staff will look like, especially when you consider that those 10 full-timers are in the same building as the new head coach getting the team ready for a bowl game. 

Earlier in the day, a few players, along with offensive coordinator Steve Casula and defensive coordiinator Wink Martindale, all mentioned that college football is a business and that they understand that some people are going to be looking for new homes. Whittingham is apparently going to keep two or three of the current coaches so it's going to be interesting tos see who those guys are.

5. "I think that might be overrated a little bit, as far as geographically where you come from."

Whittingham was born in California, played college ball at BYU and then coached in the state of Utah for nearly 40 years. Because of that, some have said that he's a bad fit at Michigan. After hearing him address that "issue" it shouldn't be viewed as a problem at all.

Whittingham didn't dismiss the idea, which I think is awesome. He acknowledged that he's not overly familiar with the Midwest, but then hit the nail on the head by saying that Michigan is a national brand and will cast a wide net when it comes to recruiting and being recognized. He also said that he's going to have a diverse staff with roots all over the country in order to ensure that no recruits fall through the cracks. 

Everything Whittingham said about how to address not being from the immediate Big Ten footprint made total sense — pump the Block M, hire good assistants and lean on the vast network that he has created over the last 30+ years.  

6. "I do now!"

That was Whittingham's answer when he was asked if he hates Ohio State. It was perfect. It's great that he has a longstanding relationship with former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer dating back to their time at Utah, but this was just a great way to answer the question. He's not from the area, so he might not totally understand the rivalry, but he will.

7. "Spread. Spread offense with 11 personnel being our base personnel."

A-MEN.

Whittingham talked about fielding an offense that fits Underwood to a tee and that should allow him to thrive. Look, I know Michigan won a national title running the ball A LOT, and Sherrone Moore certainly wanted to be a power running team as a former offensive line coach, but Underwood throwing nine touchdown passes is flat out unacceptable. 

That will not happen on Whittingham's watch. While at Utah, he never had top-flight talent or top ten ranked recruiting classes, but his teams played like he did. New Mexico transfer quarterback Devon Dampier threw 22 touchdown passes and carried the ball 127 times in 2025 as a dual-threat quarterback. If we see numbers anywhere close to that for Underwood in 2026, Michigan fans will be doing backflips.

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