New head coach Kyle Whittingham is already building a stronger coaching staff than the Michigan Wolverines have had in years
Kyle Whittingham is quickly assembling a strong coaching staff for the Michigan Wolverines to compete for national championships.
The Michigan Wolverines have officially found their next head coach. After a long search, the Wolverines finally circled to former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham to serve as Michigan’s 22nd head coach in program history.
While the process to get there was difficult, Michigan fell right into what feels like the right hire and perhaps the one it needed to make all along. Based on the early returns I’m hearing about the staff Whittingham is quickly assembling to bring to Ann Arbor, that feeling is even stronger.
Kyle Whittingham assembling intriguing staff for Wolverines
Multiple reports have stated Whittingham will aim to bring Utah OC Jason Beck with him to serve in the same role with the Wolverines. That’s a massive upgrade over what Michigan has had in Ann Arbor over the last several seasons, and he might be Michigan’s best overall coordinator since Jesse Minter.
On defense, BYU’s defensive coordinator, Jay Hill, is considered the frontrunner to serve in that same role under Whittingham. Hill played and coached under Whittingham, and he built an outstanding defense at BYU that brought the Cougars to the Big 12 Championship and on the verge of a bid in the College Football Playoff. Simply getting rid of Wink Martindale would be a win.
As far as the rest of his staff, a few positions have yet to be filled. However, the expectation is that Whittingham will work to keep running backs coach Tony Alford and defensive line coach Lou Esposito in place. Those two are the only assistants Michigan should keep because every other position room was poorly coached and/or poorly recruited during the last two seasons.
Along with Beck, Whittingham is expected to bring a few Utah assistants with him. Offensive line coach Jim Harding, a Michigan native, has emerged to take the same role in Ann Arbor. Whittingham’s brother, Freddie, will also likely replace Steve Casula as Michigan’s tight ends coach. On the defensive side, Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrief Shah has plenty of steam to take a similar role with the Wolverines, but Utah coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley is rumored to want him as his defensive coordinator, leaving that one up in the air.
Obviously, a lot of dominoes still need to fall as Michigan builds its next coaching staff. However, Whittingham’s experience, universal respect, and connections throughout the coaching world are now meeting Michigan’s pool of resources, which opens up plenty of doors for the Wolverines to assemble a stronger coaching staff than they have had in recent years.
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