Grading the Big Ten’s Four New Head Coaches Ahead of the 2026 Season

The best coaches go to the best conference, and currently that’s the Big 10. Every school is looking up at Indiana and thinking, "How could that be me?" Of course, not many schools have an alumni base like the Hoosiers, and more importantly, there might not be any person in the country who can coach like Curt Cignetti.

However, that’s not going to stop other Universities from trying to find their guy to save their program. Four new coaches will be on the sidelines on Saturdays, and here’s my thought on whether it was a good or bad hire.

Michigan: Kyle Whittingham

There’s no doubt that Kyle Whittingham is the most accomplished new hire in the Big Ten. Unfortunately for the former Utah head coach, I don’t think he realizes what type of mess he’s inheriting at Michigan. From cheating, to off-the-field issues, to coaches hacking into students’ computers, it’s an institutional mess at Michigan.

Not only that, but Whittingham does not seem to understand the gravity of The Game. He was given two chances to simply say he hates Ohio State, but refused to do so in both situations. If you’re the coach at Michigan or Ohio State, you better HATE the other school—end of story. I think Whittingham is over his head and is too old to fix everything at Michigan. Outside of the years they seemed to have been cheating, Michigan hasn’t been a top-tier contender, as they believe. I don’t see that changing this year.

Penn State: Matt Campbell

Imagine everything James Franklin was at Penn State; now keep that image in your mind, but now he’s a worse recruiter, too. I feel that Campbell is getting massively overrated. He never won in a bad Big 12 conference, and he never really got much hate for losing big games either.

Fortunately, Campbell is walking into a much more solid situation than Wittingham, and Penn State has a ridiculously easy schedule in his first season. I think he will have the most wins out of every first-year coach in the Big 10, but I’m not sold on him long-term.

Michigan State: Pat Fitzgerald

I love Pat Fitzgerald. He consistently got the most out of Northwestern teams that were pretty terrible, but this Michigan State squad might be one of the worst he’s ever been in charge. Alessio Milivojevic is the worst quarterback any first-year coach will inherit, and he’s also taking over a program with no funding and no talent whatsoever.

However, with all that being said, I have blind trust in Fitzgerald to go 6-6. It’s a light conference schedule in year one, and if he can prove that he can put a real football team on the field, the boosters will follow. I think the Spartans exceed expectations despite all the odds this season.

UCLA: Bob Chesney

I am so incredibly high on Bob Chesney and UCLA. He brought over his guys from James Madison, and I’m not sure they’ll be talented enough to compete, but they can build a culture.

I don’t expect a Cignetti-like first season for UCLA, but I do expect this team back in the mix quite soon, and that starts with having guys to change the culture. College football is at its best when there’s a ton of good football happening at the Rose Bowl, so I’m going to ride on UCLA and Chesney.