I’ve heard $11M a year, I’ve heard $15M per year for 5 years.
Whit will be a transition coach for Michigan, is my guess. Two years, three max.
I’ve heard $11M a year, I’ve heard $15M per year for 5 years.
Whit will be a transition coach for Michigan, is my guess. Two years, three max.
It will be publicly available soon enough, via FOIA if need be.
Five years at $8.2 million annually, 75% guaranteed.
Markham implying all the offensive coaches are leaving
It’s typical ESPN garbage. Always about “their” teams”
Hopefully Scalley has some new assistants on board, soon. And a really good general manager.
Like the saying “Don’t panic, but move quickly”.
Texas Tech has done a great job of evaluating talent and closing the deal with money. Indiana targeted all-Conference players all over FBS.
Not expecting a Texas Tech season next year, but don’t fall behind on the power curve.
It just occurred to me that Scalley has access to a premier leadership and management mentor - Taylor Randall.
I think we’ve going to be just fine through this.
All in or in the way.
Heh.
This is kind of proof that BYU paid well above the market rate for Sitake, and reports of Whit asking for $10M per year (to beat Sitake) may have been smartly denied.
Exhibit A - Texas Tech is paying Joey McGuire just under $7M per year on a new contract.
It’s less than I guessed based on what PSU was supposedly offering and the deep pockets of the B10. But there may be other factors. ![]()
And I’ve seen people I trust say Randall is who said no to the $10M deal.
Also been implied by connected people that Kyle was the one who wanted Scalley to get the CIW title.
As much as I’ve respected Kyle, it seems he really bungled this while spouting “best for the program”
It’s also interesting to think back to how the Rising situation was handled.
There’s a fair amount of wisdom in the saying “Never meet your heroes”.
KW is hyper competitive, which is fine. But when things like the dustup between he & Chris Hill went public, and the way he’s handling his end of career moves…
I would imagine the PE partnership probably sent him over the edge, too.
Nobody is perfect, but Taylor Randall is pretty damn bright.
Sean O’Connell is saying Kyle said he was retiring all year then called an audible.
I don’t blame the U for not playing ball.
It’s a no win situation.
The news cycle should help.
I’m a public information officer. You can’t get me to buy that ![]()
PPPPPFFFFFTTTTT. If what they are saying about Whitt’s contract are true, it sounds like it would be a great one to get fired from. #BobbyBonillaDay
Messy Michigan lands Whittingham
Much like Penn State, which put together a 54-day carnival of mystery before hiring a guy who would’ve been considered a great choice as Option 1A, the Wolverines managed to stumble into a top-tier hire despite not exactly behaving as if they’d deserved it. To recount:
Dec. 10: Michigan fired Sherrone Moore, adding another high-profile debacleto what has been a deeply soiled mutli-year run by Warde Manuel’s athletic department.
Dec. 12: Kyle Whittingham stepped down after 21 years at Utah. After turning the Utes over to longtime coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley, the winningest coach in school history soon described himself as being in the transfer portal, rather than having retired.
Dec. 26: Michigan hired Whittingham to a five-year deal.
Excluding Whittingham’s outrageously injured 5-7 team of 2024, he’s averaged 9.7 wins over the past six full seasons. Counting 2025’s upcoming finish (No. 15 Utah plays Nebraska on Wednesday), his Utes had top-20 seasons in three different conferences, including a No. 2 ranking after beating Nick Saban’s 2008 Alabama as a Mountain West team. He also had fewer scandals per decade than Michigan has recently averaged per week.
His squads, always thumpy and relentless, look like what Big Ten teams want to look like — far more Big Ten than actual Big Ten member USC, which lost its last four games against Whittingham. According to Shutdown Fullcast listener Sarah, who used to work in Utah’s athletic department, the coach once appreciated the podcast joke that his offenses play like they’re made of 11 fullbacks. Now pair all that grit-itude with one of the sport’s best-bankrolled rosters.
So why’d Whittingham part ways with Utah? That’s a whole other mess. I won’t pretend to know the conversations between him and AD Mark Harlan, though I have read lots of locals blaming Harlan for a statue-worthy coach walking away. First-time head coach Scalley might fill the shoes capably … or might not.
At 66, Whittingham is presumably less of a long-term solution and more of a capable manager who’ll pass along an up-to-code program in a few years. It feels like an undersell to say it’ll probably look better than it does right now. If nothing else, the Days Since Michigan Has Been A National Embarrassment counter might be able to take a break.
Because people love to hate Harlan
Why? Who knows.
The more we hear from the Chris Hill years, the more he wasn’t the savior many pretended he was.
But we also heard far less “inside info” as social media was not there.
Social media certainly has changed the way information, or misinformation, spreads.
And let’s be honest. Many see Kyle on such a pedestal he will always be right, even if he wasn’t.
To some he seems unlikeable, I’ve heard others say he can be pompous. I’ve never talked with him, he seems fine to me.
But whenever he shares the stage with Taylor Randall… that’s just a hard act to follow.
(My son had Taylor Randall in a business class before he was the president, explained how he turned around the College of Business when pressure was on to make cuts. Pretty impressive story. Respect your people, explain change is coming, bring in businesses to help with the College of Business.)