Kyle Whittingham Walks Into College Football’s Most Toxic Rebuild at Michigan

Michigan will play Texas in the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday but the first step in restoring prestige to the scandal-ridden program may have been taken Friday when squeaky clean Utah coach Kyle Whittingham reportedly agreed to a five-year contract to replace disgraced former head coach Sherrone Moore.

Whittingham, 66, spent 32 years at Utah, the past 21 full seasons as head coach after coaching the Utes in the final game of the 2004 season when Urban Meyer left for Florida,

Under normal circumstances, hiring a coach who is from the coaching tree of Meyer (who was 7-0 vs. the Wolverines while at Ohio State) with no ties to the Michigan would be cause for alarm among many fans.

But Whittingham, who announced earlier this month he was stepping away from Utah, could be in the right place at the right time after the likes of Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham thwarted advances from a program reeling from scandal after scandal.

Make no mistake, Whittingham is caretaker commissioned to right the sinking maize and blue ship.

Michigan needs to mitigate the damage from Moore’s firing for cause on Dec. 10 after “credible evidence” was presented of him having “an inappropriate relationship with a staff member,” according to a statement by athletic director Warde Manuel. Moore soon after was arrested and charged with felony home invasion, misdemeanor breaking and entering and misdemeanor stalking.

Michigan was rebuffed in efforts to quickly replace Moore so the people in charge acted prudently.

Of course, many of those same people turned a blind eye to the win at any cost philosophy from the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal that helped Jim Harbaugh win the 2023 national title before he left a dumpster fire on his way to the Los Angeles Chargers, to the appointment of Moore and his brief two-year suspension-filled reign or errors, to former assistant coach Matt Weiss allegedly hacking the accounts of tens of thousands student-athletes, mostly females.

Now it looks like it’s Whittingham’s turn but the clock is ticking. The Wolverines have already lost two 2026 commits in tight end Matt Ludwig and center Bear McWhorter.

It will be Whittingham’s job to keep the rest of the recruited class intact as much as possible while also focusing on retaining the current roster, especially quarterback Bryce Underwood, who was inconsistent but showed promise this past freshman season, as he should for the millions he’s being paid.

The general transfer portal runs Jan. 2-16 but Michigan players will have five days after the school officially announces its new coach to enter the portal and 15 days after that to name a destination.

Interim head coach Biff Poggi was on the Longhorns-centric “The Stampede” podcast on Tuesday when he said it’s possible up to 25 players could enter the portal.

But all that could change for the better for Michigan upon the arrival of Whittingham, who had 177-78 record for the Utes. He was scheduled to coach No. 15 Utah (10-2) against Nebraska (7-5) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Wednesday but he informed the school he will not.

Poggi, an associate head coach under Moore, lobbied hard for the permanent job and had the backing of the players but so did Moore when Harbaugh fled.

“It’s been five years of a malfunctioning organization,” Poggi told reporters on Monday. “Let’s call it what it is, it’s happened every year. The athletic director doesn’t wasn’t any more of that.”

Enter Whittingham.

Michigan will survive the latest black eye but its place among the Big Ten elite and national prominence is in question for now.

Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana are superior to the Wolverines. Michigan is a tier below but it has company. USC may have found its footing. Penn State had a challenge replacing coach James Franklin but stumbled into a good one, Matt Campbell. Even Michigan State will be on the upswing - eventually - with the hiring of Pat Fitzgerald.

Indiana’s Curt Cignetti showed its possible to resurrect a program quickly. Fortunately, for Michigan its floor has never been as low as the Hoosiers.

Michigan still has tradition, prestige and more importantly, lots of money to buy its way out of its problems.

The program didn’t get a Michigan Man but it got the Right Man.